Caring for Your Rival
by jigokuwa
Summary: Shadow is busy dealing with Mephiles while Sonic gets slightly distracted with a certain black hedgehog as they spend more time together to collect emeralds from different dimensional worlds. When Zonic the Zone Cop (alternate version of Sonic) shows up and gets along with Shadow pretty well... Sonic feels a tiny bit of jealousy. What will happen between Sonic and Shadow? SONADOW
1. Shadow Getting the Blame

_**Hello~ this is my first story using two hedgehogs. **_

**I will try to make Sonic and Shadow be in character as much as possible ****just like how you see them in the game or anime/cartoon!**

_**Sonic and Shadow will develop a relationship slowly (you know... not suddenly jumping into a romantic relationship)**_

_**Sonic will not be a helpless hedgehog always waiting for Shadow to the rescue. (So he won't be like a girl... lol!) **_

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**Additional Note added in 2013: Believe it or not XD I actually wrote all these chapters (1~19) from my smartphone while I am coming back home from school, work, volunteer, meetings and etc using bus or subway in order to upload once a week for you guys! 0 **

** so... yeah there might be some small spelling errors but I DO PLAN TO FIX THEM DURING THIS SUMMER VACATION! **

**I hope you guys can understand hehheh T^T Sorry I am also a busy university student XD**

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**Caring for Your Rival**

**From Sonic 2006**

_Come with me, Shadow. Let us punish this foolish world of humanity. It is only fair to give back what was intended for you. You have every right to want justice."_

_"That's absurd," Shadow answered right away, knowing that Mephiles was lying, "Whatever it is you want to do, you can do it alone."_

_"You forgive humanity this folly then?" Mephiles pointed at the future Shadow who was chained up inside a purple restraint, fully unconscious._

_There were few seconds where Shadow's mind that told him maybe it wasn't a bad idea to join Mephiles. What if everything that Mephiles told him was right and that in the near future, he would be captured by those humans again because humans always needed someone or something to blame whenever disasters happen? But then again, Shadow thought about how he promised to Maria about keeping the world safe and not giving destructions to innocent lives. With that in mind, Shadow prepared to battle Mephiles with a small grin on his face._

_"I determine my own destiny," Shadow said confidently._

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**Present Time**

"Easier said than done," Shadow whispered to himself as he raced through the massive robots and GUN forces running after him. It has been around six years since the Solaris incident and honestly, after killing the Solaris, Shadow thought the whole event with Mephiles supposedly never happened and a better future might be ahead of him.

"Shadow the Hedgehog, you must surrender now or we will capture you by force!" one of the GUN members shouted.

Guess Shadow was dead wrong.

"This is just ridiculous!" Shadow muttered to himself, "I decided to stop having my grudge against GUN and all the people in this damn planet and I actually tried to avoid any negative influences and this is what I get?! Bunch of idiots trying to capture me for no particular reasons?!"

While skating through the open area that was clearly GUN's boundary, Shadow thought about fighting. Technically, he could knock them out easily in few seconds, but at the same time, he thought that type of action might make this situation worse. It could potentially confirm the GUN that he is bad indeed.

'If only I had at least one emerald then I could at least use chaos con-damn,' Shadow stopped thinking when he realized that he just skated into the dead end. Shadow calmly turned around and in a second the police cars, GUN force and few highly developed robots surrounded him.

"Why are you guys following me? If you haven't noticed I didn't do anything wrong lately," Shadow tried to control his anger.

"Don't play dumb with us hedgehog," the head commander shouted, "We know that you are trying to cause another massive destruction to mankind with those filthy Black Arms again. You were reported sneaking around museums and collecting those emeralds to find whatever the hell that you need to do to have another massive invasion!"

Shadow's eye lids narrowed as he tried to understand what in the world the commander was saying to him. He never went anywhere to find emeralds in the first place and Shadow definitely did not tried to contact the Black Arms. The hell, Shadow killed Black Doom and sent the whole comment back to space so save the Earth!

"Once again you humans just proved to me how insolent you really can be," Shadow crossed his arms, "I don't know where you got that fairy tale story but it looks like you're just trying to make an excuse to capture me for no reason. Afraid to have an ultimate life form around the Earth, perhaps?" Shadow teased.

"Open fire! Capture Shadow immediately! Dead or alive!"

Shadow's eyes opened widely at a sudden surprise attack but he managed to jump up high in the air to release his chaos spear, not directly at the GUN forces, but slightly in front of them so they would not get hurt. But it certainly scared them. While people shouted in fear and also in confusion because of smokes produced by chaos spears caused, Shadow took this as a chance to skate around and escape.

'Someone is trying to bring back Black Arms….?' Shadow thought to himself, 'And they think it's me…. unless… unless they witnessed someone that looks like me and it can only be-'

* * *

**Some Place away from GUN perimeter **

"SONIC~~~~~~~~~~" Amy shouted and leaped into the air to give a bear hug to her self-proclaimed boyfriend.

"A-Amy?!" Sonic sighed, "What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to hang out with Cream and Tails today?"

"Yes but I thought it would be cute to leave Cream and Tails alone for their little play date while I have some quality time with you!" she tried to give a small kiss on the blue hedgehog but he gently pushed her away.

"B-but I don't really want to have a quality ti-" Sonic quickly saw Amy's fury increasing by the moment, "I.. I mean what I meant to say was.. don't.. you want to hang out with me later in the evening when it is more.. uh…. romantic I guess?" Sonic's ears twitched at his own sentence. 'What did I just say?!' Sonic mentally slapped himself.

"That's a great idea! Finally I get to spend a long evening with you! Should I go home and get ready?" Amy jumped in joy but Sonic's attention was on the public television that was in front of an electric store that Tails visited so much.

**"Attention, Shadow the Hedgehog just escaped the GUN boundary and could be anywhere around this city. But do not be alarmed because the GUN police will arrive to cover the city completely for full protection of our good citizens. If you have witnessed Shadow the Hedgehog please report to us right away because he could be a dangerous threat and Sonic the hedgehog, if you are listening to his news then please help GUN to capture the black hedgehog a soon as possible."**

"What the… Shadow? What did he do this time?" Sonic said and scratched his ear, "But… I thought after the whole Black Arm's invasion. He wouldn't get himself into any trouble."

"That's weird because didn't Shadow also helped you few years ago when.. uh.. what was his name.. Silver? Yeah when Silver tried to stop you," Amy suggested.

"I'm pretty sure it's just a whole misunderstanding," said Sonic, "Shadow is not the type of hedgehog to do any harm without reasons what so ever."

"Or maybe he did have some bad intention after all," Amy rolled her eyes, "Come on Sonic, everyone knows that Shadow could turn to the evil side when he feels like it. Maybe it's better for you to help the GUN and get this over with."

"Amy you can't just-"

Then there was a huge crash and people in black army uniforms entering the city from all directions.

"What is GUN doing here?" Sonic shouted and Amy just hugged the blue hedgehog for protection.

People were surprised just like Sonic as they screamed and few of them shouting to GUN if there was any potential danger in the city that the moment.

"What was that crash sound?!" someone yelled.

"Is there going to be some kind of invasion?!"

"If the GUN is here that must mean that.. that black hedgehog must be here as well!" one of the citizens alerted the other people.

'Shadow is in this city right now..?' Sonic just stood there to see what the GUN would do next

"Everyone please evacuate to the other side of the city at once," one of the GUN stated calmly. "There is a full protection in the other side of the city because Shadow the hedgehog has been spotted running around in this area."

With that sentence, people were running to the other side and GUN also helped some of the people to get to the safe place from the supposed danger.

"Commander, what's going on?" Sonic walked with Amy right next to him, "What do you mean you guys are trying to capture Shadow in the first place?"

"Ah Sonic, it is great seeing you at this moment!" the commander's face lit up instantly knowing that the hero would be on their side and not Shadow's.

"Shadow was spotted contacting the Black Comment again for another alien invasion perhaps. We didn't want to believe this at first but further research shows that he was collecting emeralds and some data and this was way too dangerous to be just ignored."

"WHAT! Another disgusting black alien attack?!" Amy shouted and squeezed Sonic tighter, slightly enjoying the close contact that she didn't have for a while.

"No way!" Sonic shook his head, "You do know that Shadow is the one who saved us all from Black Doom right? And I'm pretty sure Shadow didn't like that alien one bit himself. Why in the world would be try to bring them back? Second thought.. didn't you guys see Shadow killing those aliens?" Sonic smirked as he thought about the only time when he and Shadow were able to work together side by side. It was great fighting along with someone who had the equal power and speed. Well maybe not the speed part because Sonic knows he is faster than Shadow but it was still.. well.. nice. After defeating Black Doom, Sonic wished that he could partner up with Shadow more often but they never did once which disappointed Sonic a little. Sonic was really happy to see Shadow when he came just in time to save him from getting killed by Silver.

'Awww I guess that means Shadow cares about me in some degree,' Sonic smiled and redirected his attention back to the commander. "Are you guys sure it's not another mistake? Like how you guys mistaken_ me_ for another hedgehog years ago?" Sonic raised an eyebrow and tapped his foot.

"No Sonic, this is no mistake. Shadow must be captured dead or alive because we certainty do not want to go through another crazy invasion again."

"W-wait, what do you mean dead?" said Sonic, "Can't we just talk this out with Shadow and-"

There was another crash

"See! That is Shadow doing the destruction to the museum again! I'm pretty sure the chaos emerald is in that location! I will bring my GUN force down there immediately! Sonic since you are faster, please go and capture Shadow at all cost!" and with that the commander left trying to gather more GUN soldiers before heading to the crash site.

"I guess I can have a small visit to my buddy," Sonic chuckled, a little happy that he would be able to meet that Faker again, "Still I don't think Shadow would do anything bad at all."

"Oh Sonic I want to come along with you just in case you need a back up!" Amy said and summoned her hammer to show that she was ready.

"No Amy you really shouldn't I mean…" 'She's just going to be in my way!' thought Sonic.

"I'm coming with my boyfriend and there is nothing that you say that is going to change me!"

"Okay! Okay! You can come!" Sonic said in defeat, "Just promise me that when it gets too dangers leave, please."

"Yay Sonic cares about me! But I don't know if I want to leave my Sonic alone when it gets too dangerous because our love is strong to keep up safe and-"

"Amy let's go!" Sonic interrupted and pointed at the crash site.

"The chaos emerald should be here somewhere… now where could it be…" said the dark figure roaming around the destructed site, searching the place with his green eyes. Just then he heard something and turned around to see none other than Sonic and a pink hedgehog with a ridiculous hammer.

"Sonic! It's Shadow! So he is the cause of all this! You better be sorry to ruin my perfect date with Sonic!" Amy glowed in fire and raised her hammer as a threat.

Sonic gasped as he saw Shadow's figure and was a little heartbroken thinking that Shadow might have actually turned bad…. again! But when the black hedgehog turned around it was…

"Mephiles?! What the… I thought I would never see you again!" Sonic quickly got himself into a battle position.

"Ah it is nice to see you again.. Sonic the hedgehog. But I'm afraid you're not my target.. hope you don't get too disappointed."

"So the GUN must have mistaken you for Shadow! You creep, what are you up to this time?! And why are you trying to connect with the Black Arms?!"

"That is for you to never know… my clones attack him and his girlfriend at once!"

"Wha…what?!" Sonic looked around and suddenly there were hundreds of Mephiles surrounding him and Amy.

'Okay.. if I just use my speed right then taking these guys down is going to be a piece of cake. Wait! I forgot Amy is still with me! I should tell her to get away!'

The blue hedgehog turned around to tell his friend to find a safe place but she jumped with her hammer, directly aiming towards the real Mephiles.

"AMY! DON'T BE HASTY!" Sonic shouted and tried to stop her but the clones all came in at once, not giving Sonic a chance to defend himself or do anything since his attention was on the pink hedgehog.

"You think you are soooo scary!" Amy yelled, "I bet you and Shadow are working together to plot something nasty again but I'm not going to let you!"

"Me and Shadow?" Mephiles sounded furious instantly, "Shadow is my prey and you are starting to get on my nerve!" Mephiles easily knocked Amy's hammer down and a black aura pushed her to the ground immediately.

"Amy!" Sonic struggled to get the clones off from him.

"That was a cheap trick. You sure don't know how to handle a lady," Amy gave a huge frown.

"I don't even know where your pathetic bravery is coming from," Mephiles laughed.

"Why are you laughing?! Don't you dare laugh at me mister!" Amy tried to stand up but realized why her enemy was laughing in the first place. Her legs were wrapped by a black cloud which restricted her entirely.

"S-Sonic! HELP! SAVE ME!" Amy cried, finally knowing that she was indeed in danger.

"Grr. Amy hold on!" Sonic was able to get few clones off but they just kept coming, "Mephiles if you do anything do my friend-"

"Sonic I'm your girlfriend!" Amy corrected Sonic, "Hurry up or he's going to-"

"Now die you annoying girl!" Mephiles released the same attack that he used to kill Sonic once. The sharp diamond shaped blade form from Mephiles' hand and instantly made its way towards the target.

"AMY!" Sonic closed his eyes, knowing that he would see Amy's face sliced in half or.. anything blood related but when he heard Mephiles' shocked voice, he opened them to see Shadow.

Shadow had Amy safe in his arms.

Sonic's eyes opened wide and he felt his heart pounding to see Shadow after a long period of time. I mean, you do get excited when you meet a friend whom you haven't seen for a while… right?

"S-Shadow!" Sonic called out to the black hedgehog who had his back turned.

"Hey! I did not wanted to get saved by you Shadow!" Amy struggled to get free, "Let me go! I know you're working for Mephiles!"

At Amy's last comment, Shadow's temper was just about to explode in any second.

"Stop being so absurd. Why the hell would I work with my copycat? And you should be happy that I came just in time because your little blue friend was too lazy to help you in the first place," Shadow growled.

"Uh Shadow? Your lazy friend is hanging out with Mephiles' clones at this moment," Sonic was slightly ticked off but he still couldn't hide the fact that he was happy to see Shadow again.

"Whatever," Shadow replied and turned around to give a small nod at Sonic before facing Mephiles again.

But at that short second, Sonic noticed something horribly wrong. Shadow's left eye was shut tightly to keep the blood from pouring out.

"Shadow! You alright buddy?!" Sonic winced at Shadow's injured eye. 'It must have happened when he saved Amy' thought Sonic, feeling bad for Shadow.

"I didn't know I would run into you this early Shadow," Mephiles waved his hand and clones vanished, "But I'm afraid I don't have time to deal with you right now. I thought the emerald might be at this location but perhaps my calculation was incorrect but I'll tell you this, Shadow the hedgehog," Mephiles closed his eyes before speaking again, "I will make you suffer before I kill you myself!"

"Get back here Mephiles!" Shadow demanded but was too late. Mephiles entered a purple colored portal and disappeared with a dark laughter echoing around the broken museum.

"Sonic!" Amy quickly got off from Shadow and ran to Sonic but the blue hedgehog's attention was fully on Shadow. What was going on between Shadow and Mephiles? He was going to find out if he had to force Shadow to talk.

"Shadow, just what was that all about?" Sonic walked to Shadow while Amy was still stuck to his hips. Then a thought hit him. Shadow was still injured! "Never mind that, come with me so I can have your eye treated!" Sonic showed concern but Shadow refused to turn around and face him.

Shadow's ears twitched and pointed where the sound was coming from.

"It's the GUN…" Shadow murmured.

"Come on Shadow, come with me," Sonic reached out to Shadow but the black hedgehog just continued to walk away. Well, more like limp away.

'Oh no.. is his leg injured too?' Sonic knew that to both of them, having an injured leg is a huge problem since speed and agility was what they both depended on the most.

"I need to go," said Shadow and instead of skating away like how he wanted too, he limped gently tried to get far away from the city as possible. Sonic did not like Shadow's stubbornness one bit and he was not going to let his friend leave with such injuries.

"Shadow!" Sonic managed to turn Shadow around and gasped at how much worse the bleeding turned out to be. Shadow's left hand glove that covered his left eye was soaking with blood and Shadow's left leg had a severe cut also. "If you think I'm going to let you leave like this then-"

"Shut it," Shadow snapped and shook his hand away from Sonic, "I need to leave and if you're planning to follow me like a little determined hedgehog then I'm going to kill you at that spot."

And with that Shadow fast walked to the other side of the city.

"Sonic I was scared that-"

"Not now Amy," Sonic said coldly and this really surprised Amy. "Heh… I'm glad that Shadow didn't forget how determined I can really be."

Sonic decided to follow Shadow behind him, leaving a confused and angry Amy behind.

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**So... yeah... uh.. don't expect Sonic and Shadow to get all romantic in first few chapters 0.0**

**I need to have some plot developing first! So please be patience if you guys are waiting for some sonadow stuff XD**

**Please tell me what you think~**


	2. Emerald Hunt and a Halloween Party?

**Thank you so much for reviews! I got surprised there are people reading this!**

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Shadow managed to limp away from the broken museum site just in time before the GUN arrived with horrified and confused looks on their faces, cursing Shadow once again believing that it was his doing. Amy was also there with the GUN but didn't bother to say anything about Mephiles because she was too frustrated about Sonic leaving her all of the sudden to chase after Shadow.

"Sonic is so dead once he comes back!" Amy shouted to the top of her lung and a lot of the people stopped talking and stared at Amy. "What?! Don't you guys get upset when your boyfriend just leaves you behind?!" she stated with her hammer once again summoned to her right hand.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sonic stalked Shadow quietly but decided to not call his name until Shadow got settled. They were both slightly far away from the city and were in the entrance of a small forest that people used for hiking. Sonic looked around for any signs of GUN or people just in case he need to warn Shadow. By this time, the whole half of the city was infested with police forces and soldiers searching desperately for Shadow the hedgehog.

'He got lucky since no one seems to be here at this moment,' Sonic sighed and kept his eye on his rival.

Shadow also looked around but failed to see Sonic hiding behind bunch of trees and with his left eye severely injured, it made it even harder for him to look around his surroundings. This stressed Shadow to a very high degree and not to mention his left leg also suffered from a cut that was deep enough to cause pain every time he took a step.

'This is just great' Shadow rubbed his bleeding leg to alleviate some sore, 'Should I just rest here until my body is recovered a little…?'

"Hey Shadow! Finally I can talk to you in peace!"

'Maybe I should just continue to move,' Shadow rolled his eyes and stood up from the grass again.

"H-Hey! Where are you going?!" Sonic desperately called and in a flash he was right in front of Shadow.

"To be as far away from you," said Shadow and hoped that Sonic would move out of the way. The blue hedgehog had no intention of leaving Shadow alone as he scratched his ear with a huge grin on his face.

"I'm happy that your personality didn't change," Sonic laughed, "But seriously, I need to talk to you for a second and from what I can see you can't even put up a fight with me in your condition."

"Look, I didn't do anything wrong okay? I don't know why the GUN is after me! If you plan to work with them to capture me then fine by me but don't plead mercy when I have to take you down you down by force."

Sonic noticed that Shadow was tensed at this moment since he jumped into conclusion about him working or having some kind of connection with the GUN. To Sonic's eyes, Shadow looked like a scared child trying to protect himself from any possible harm since he was so vulnerable at the moment.

'Mephiles must have gotten stronger somehow…' was the only thing that crossed Sonic's mind.

"If you have nothing to say then I shall leave now," Shadow turned around and tried to skate but failed miserably so he decided to limp away again.

"Hold on! Geeze, what made you think I was working with the GUN to capture you? Weren't you the one that worked with the GUN as an agent in the first place?" Sonic frowned and continued to follow Shadow which annoyed the black hedgehog a lot at this point.

"It wasn't like I signed a contract," Shadow growled, clearly annoyed at Sonic's presence, "I just had to work with them for my own purpose. Now if you don't mind, stop following me!"

"But I just want to talk to my old friend~ Is that too much to ask?" Sonic quickened his pace so he was walking right next to Shadow.

"Don't waste my time," Shadow bit his mouth and even though the pain on his leg would tell him to stop, he decided to make a run for it.

Sonic was surprised to see Shadow can still run in such speed with a deep cut on his leg.

"Well, that's Shadow," Sonic shrugged and he decided to run off to catch up with the black hedgehog.

'He's not going to leave me alone at this rate' Shadow thought when he realized the blue blur was right behind him.

"What's the deal with Mephiles?!" Sonic yelled while running at the same speed with Shadow, "You can tell your best friend, right?!"

"I don't have a best friend!" Shadow snapped and thought of a plan that would get Sonic off is back. If he can't run away from Sonic, then he would make Sonic go away from him. One of Sonic's traits that almost everyone knew was he never denied a challenge. Even if the challenge was as ridiculous as something small like eating a twenty chilidog in ten seconds or someone daring him to jump up and down while singing a song, Sonic would do it. That's just how it was because one thing that Sonic hated was when he had to admit that he can't do it. It would simply hurt his ego and pride.

'A challenge that Sonic cannot deny but he also cannot accomplish,' Shadow thought and gave a dark grin, 'Ah, there's the river.'

Shadow easily jumped over the river and turned around to see Sonic running and getting ready to jump as well.

"If you want to help me dealing with Mephiles then cross this river without leaping over!" Shadow pointed and this immediately caused Sonic to stop on the other side of the water. "And I know the great hero shouldn't say no to a simple challenge, am I right?"

Sonic looked at Shadow and then looked at the river below him. The clear refreshing stared right back at him and the sound of water rushing made Sonic's heart bump louder.

'I.. I can jump over this…' Sonic thought to himself but that would just hurt his pride in front of his rival. 'Wait.. how did Shadow even know that my biggest fear is water?!' Sonic shook his head.

"Why in the world would you give m a childish challenge, Shadow?" said Sonic.

"Are you afraid of getting wet?" Shadow smiled again in victory knowing that Sonic would just turn around, probably cursing Shadow along the way for being immature but Shadow really couldn't care less. Shadow was able to figure out Sonic's fear of water when he observed him once in a while when Sonic was on his usual hero duties. He would always go around anything that had water involved, period. It didn't take long for Shadow to realize that Sonic seriously hated contact with water.

'I bet he doesn't even know how to swim,' thought Shadow as he observed confused blue hedgehog.

"Fine Faker! You think I can't complete your idiotic challenge?!" Sonic fumed and with his ears flapped down, a clear sign that he was terrified at this moment (a rare scene for Shadow to see), the blue hedgehog slowly entered the cold water. The coldness traveled from the bottom of his red shoes to the top of his large quills and this sensation did not help Sonic to deal with his water phobia. The rushing sound became even louder but Sonic tried to pay attention to something that was less…liquid.

'It's not so bad," Sonic encouraged himself, 'See the water is not even that deep! I can just cross this and then Shadow would tell me what's going on and... oh man… why is the water rising?! It's almost to my stomach!' Sonic stopped along the way and thought about his action. Was this really worth doing it?

"What the…. He's clearly shivering," the black hedgehog murmured and tilted his head in mixture of curiosity and confusion. Shadow never thought he could imagine Sonic acting like a scared child since he was so used to with Sonic's brave and ignorant image. 'Doesn't he know that in the middle of the river you really have to swim across?'

"Y-You.. you better keep your promise, Shadow!" Sonc's voice cracked a little because of his fear and continued to move forward, "I'm not crossing this water for nothing you know!"

"Why are you so desperate to talk to me," Shadow was slightly ticked off, "You are scaring yourself to death and I hope you know how to swim because this river is not that shallow."

"I think it's going to be worth it once I make it out alive," Sonic chuckled even though he was terrified inside, "I don't die easy."

The water was almost to Sonic's neck and he literally froze at this point, not knowing if he should continue crossing the river or just turn around and pretend this never happened.

'I never thought I would be facing my fear for Shadow," Sonic thought and looked up to see Shadow still frowning at him, not noticing that here was a small concern on Shadow's face as well. 'But… I think it's still worth…oh wait I think I'm going to drown at this rate…!'

"He's breathing hard," Shadow noticed and he had to admit, Sonic looked really really really poor. Sonic rarely showed any physical signs of weakness such as shivering, chattering his teeth or even noticeably flapping his ears down especially in front of his rival; Shadow almost felt sorry for asking such challenge.

"You're not giving up are you," Shadow got Sonic's attention, "Just turn around. At this rate, you're really going to drown. I doubt you even know how to swim."

"Look, I just want to help you out and if I have to cross this stupid river then I will! You'll see!" and Sonic's anger caused him to take a huge step and both of his feet were not even touching the bottom floor of the river anymore. 'This is really deep! What should I do?! Call for Shadow's help! There's no way he's going to come for my rescue. He's just laugh at my own stupidity!' Sonic;s mind ran wild thinking about the worst case scenario that could happen while he splashed but his high self esteem did not allow him to cry out for help or even say anything.

This actually made Sonic's situation more pitiful than Shadow had imagined.

"Damn, you really love to put yourself into troubles!" Shadow couldn't stand there and watch poor Sonic splashing and trying to stay in the surface. So the black hedgehog jumped into the water. Shadow swiftly scooped up Sonic and brought him back to the land.

"You jump into the water, knowing that you have an apprehension not to mention you don't even know how to swim and yet you still do it because you can't back away from a stupid challenge," Shadow growled and waited for Sonic to catch his breath.

"That stupid challenge was from you Shadow," Sonic laughed and this even surprised Shadow more. How can you laugh at this time? Only Sonic can, apparently. "Plus, it wasn't only because of the challenge, I really do want to help you ever thought of that?"

Shadow raised an eyebrow, and didn't speak.

"I mean I don't know if you remember few of those events but you saved the Earth like four times! One from the ARK, from Metarex, Black Doom and Solaris."

"I can't believe you still remember those events," Shadow murmured as if those were not very meaningful to him.

"The point is," Sonic stood up from the ground, "I can at least return something to you, right? So how about you tell me what's the deal with you and Mephiles? I think the GUN mistaken you for Mephiles as well."

Sonic shook a little to get himself dried from the water while Shadow was trapped in his own little thought again. It was nice to know that Sonic seemed to show a lot of care but probably it was because Sonic felt that he needed to return the debt or something since Shadow did helped Sonic many times. At the same time, Shadow was not used to with receiving help from anyone… especially from the annoying hedgehog. He was the ultimate life form which means he can take care of himself.

"He did go though such trouble though…" Shadow trailed off, reflecting back to Sonic's horrified look when he was nearly panting in the river.

"What was that?" Sonic perked his ear to show that he was still listening.

"Look," Shadow signed, "I don't really know what Mephiles is up to but I think it has something to do with him collecting the emeralds and perhaps contacting the Black Arms," Shadow remembered what the commander told him, "I don't think he is really after the world domination though. More like he holds a grudge against me," Shadow looked away.

"You guys got close enough to have a personal dilemma?" Sonic asked, "I can't say I'm a little jealous, buddy!" Sonic teased.

"This is something serious and not a joke," Shadow flatly stated, "anyways instead of going after Mephiles, I was planning to maybe gather all the emerald before he does… just to be on the safe side." Shadow slowly opened to eyes to find out that his eyes stopped bleeding a while ago but there was still a lot of blood clot covering his previous injury.

Sonic winced at this site but pretended not to be affected by it.

"So planning to secretly play the hero and saving the world again," Sonic patted Shadow's back and Shadow took this by a surprise, "Let me join on your little adventure then!"

"I don't need any-" But Shadow's remark was cut off by a certain robot.

"Target sited, Shadow the hedgehog, located in the southern part of the city. Must be eliminated to stop destruction to mankind."

"What the-" Sonic looked up, "Hey Shadow, isn't that your friend?" Sonic pointed at the red and yellow colored robot.

Shadow turned around and saw that the robot was about to open fire at both of them, "Omega?!"

Then Shadow had a quick flash back of the time when Omega warned about how he was going to be reprogrammed to defeat and capture Shadow (From Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 game in Shadow's story _). Shadow just slightly ignored Omega's comment, knowing that from the bottom of his heart, Omega would never betray him because even though they didn't speak to each other very much, both of them held a pretty close bond. But now that bond was about to be shattered.

"Shadow watch out!" Sonic quickly used his speed to push Shadow away from the massive blast. Sonic landed perfectly on his feet but Shadow on the other hand felt the dirt scratching his knee. "What's wrong Shadow? Feeling tired to dodge an easy attack?" Sonic helped Shadow up.

"Omega… he has been reprogrammed," was the only thing that Shadow said and this worried Sonic. Sonic never saw Shadow's face expression so surprised with a hint of melancholy? 'Omega must have been a close friend to Shadow if he is this upset right now.'

"Shadow, we have to get out of here," Sonic tried to get Shadow's attention.

"Cannot let Shadow the hedgehog, the wanted prisoner escape," Omega leaped up to the air and fired some more bullets at Shadow but this time Shadow quickly evaded the attack but yelped a little when he landed hard on his injured leg.

"Omega, it's me! Don't you remember who you are talking to?" Shadow tried to reason but it was no use. Omega only responded by rising both of his gun directly to Shadow.

"Target must be captured, dead or alive."

"Omega…" Shadow just stood dumbfounded, open for a direct attack when Sonic kicked the machine straight on the back. Omega fell to the ground with a large crash and when he was about to get up again, Sonic quickly punched the robot on the leg to make sure he wouldn't get up again.

"What are you doing?!" Shadow yelled "Don't you dare break him!"

"Shadow! If you haven't noticed I only aimed for the leg, he won't break! And besides he could have killed you!"

"Reprogramming… reprogramming…" the sound came from the partly broken robot. Sonic grabbed Shadow's hand and pulled but the black hedgehog didn't plan to move one bit.

"Come on! If Omega is here that means the GUN could get here any minute! We have to get you to a safe place, now!" Sonic raised his tone which was something rare for him to do.

"….." Shadow didn't reply but his eyes were on his friend. Would it be okay for him to leave Omega in that state? But Sonic was right, currently Omega's target was himself so he needed to leave before things got worse.

"Shadow!" Sonic tugged and Shadow was about to follow along with Sonic but Omega's voice caught his attention.

"Sha-dow."

"…?!" Shadow turned around and walked back to Omega whose eyes changed from a dark purple to a dim lit yellow light.

"Take- the- emerald inside- my machinery."

"What?" Shadow's eyes opened widely and this caught Sonic's attention as well.

"Mephiles said he was here to get the emerald but couldn't find it… maybe he couldn't locate the emerald because it was inside Omega this whole time!" said Sonic.

"Omega, who did this to you? Who reprogrammed you?" Shadow demanded but the robot kept repeating the same sentence over and over again. To take out the emerald would mean that Shadow would have to cause further damage to his friend.

"Shadow I know how you feel but Omega's right. We have to take the emerald now and leave. Come to my house, it will be safe for a while and I can even get those injuries of your treated," Sonic reasoned, "Omega will be fine, I promise."

Sonic's last sentence echoed inside Shadow's ear and he hoped what Sonic said to him was right. Murmuring a small apology to Omega, Shadow gently punched inside the robot to take out a white chaos emerald.

"Let's go," was all what Shadow said and he and Sonic disappeared in a flash, leaving a malfunctioning Omega behind.

"Good luck- Shadow-the Hedgehog. Reprogramming… reprogramming.. repro-"

They were both rushing through the forest, but as the time passed by, Sonic was getting a little faster and faster. Actually, it was Shadow who started to slow down. Every time he skated, his left leg was killing him. Not only did Mephiles cut deep into his left leg muscle but he was lucky enough to hit the sensitive nerve ending which brought more pain to Shadow. But he couldn't stop now because they were going back to the city which was a dangerous boundary for Shadow. Not to mention, he didn't want to tell Sonic he was suffering. But Sonic, being a good observer, caught Shadow wincing in pain from the corner of his eyes and stopped right away.

"Why are you stopping?" Shadow sounded a little annoyed but deep inside, he was glad that they decided to take a break.

"Hop on!" Sonic flashed his famous grin as he placed both of his hands out, preparing to hold Shadow in bridal style. "I wish I can hold you on my back but my quills could get in your way and I don't want you do have another cut in your right eye," Sonic chuckled.

Shadow's face reddened a little but he quickly composed himself and backed away from Sonic. Sonic did not just say what he thought he heard.

"You have got to be kidding me," Shadow crossed his arm, "Just lead the way."

"You are getting slower and slower, buddy," Sonic tapped his foot, "I don't like when something or someone slows me down."

"Watch your mouth," said Shadow, showing his fangs a little.

"Hey, I'm just saying the truth. Don't you dare start a fight with me because with your injuries to your eye and leg, I have the upper advantage," Sonic came close to Shadow.

"Don't touch me!" was a Shadow said but Sonic had a good point. He was slowing Sonic down a little. 'I'm going to cut off Mephiles' leg when I see him the next time.'

"There you go~" Sonic quickly took Shadow in his arms and decided to run at a sonic speed so Shadow wouldn't try to get off from him. But he sure got a lot of complaining from Shadow.

"What the hell are you doing! Put me down right now! I didn't ask for you do this! Before I decide to kill you for real put me down this-"

"Aww Shadow, I didn't know you would be enjoying this that much," Sonic giggled, feeling a little happy that he was able to make Shadow feel so helpless. 'I don't know why it's so fun to tease with him,' Sonic noted to himself and smiled.

"Once I fully recover, you are dead," Shadow finally gave up the struggle relaxed a little while Sonic carried him in a fast speed. With the cold wind blowing and finally not feeling the pain from his leg, Shadow had to admit, it felt a nice. He sighed deeply and his eye lids suddenly became heavy, signing him to sleep.

"My body was pressured to be on its alert mode for so long. I must be getting sleepy since I feel relaxed," Shadow whispered to himself.

"Go to sleep a little. I'll wake you up when we reach my house," Sonic increased his speed even more. "Besides, I've never seen the ultimate life form sleep before."

Shadow opened his mouth to have a comeback for Sonic's comment but he was too tired. He didn't sleep for days because the GUN was constantly chasing after him and his muscle was always tense, getting ready to fight just in case something or someone would give him a surprise attack.

Still one thing that Shadow couldn't understand was, why Sonic would go through so much trouble just to help him. Mephiles was his problem and his alone but Sonic just had to get in his way once again.

'Maybe he's not that annoying….' Shadow thought and closed his eyes gently, allowing Sonic to be his full protection for once.

* * *

"Tails! Did we have any specious knocks?" Sonic entered his house with resting Shadow on his arms. 'I never thought he would really fall asleep' Sonic thought.

Tails, who was currently watching the news about GUN searching for a certain black hedgehog, was surprised to see the company that Sonic brought to their house. The two tailed fox jumped down from the couch and pointed at Shadow.

"Sonic, did you hear the news? Authorities are looking everywhere for Shadow and they might just come knocking into our door any time soon! It says that Shadow is responsible for destructions at the GUN base and there were videos showing that he is currently collecting emeralds for some bad purpose," said Tails, his voice filled with worry.

"Tails, Tails~" Sonic gently placed Shadow on the couch that the fox used and turned off the television, "Everyone got this whole thing wrong! Shadow is innocent and he's definitely not responsible for any type of destruction. It's Mephiles and I don't know how he returned but he's behind all this," Sonic explained, "Hey what happened to play date with Cream by the way?"

"Oh, she wanted me to stay longer for some tea party but I really had enough of her cup cakes and tea cookies…" Tails trailed off but brought his focus back to the topic, "Well that would make sense since I can't imagine Shadow doing anything bad anymore since he helped us so much during the past."

"I wish more people would think like you instead of always relating me with some criminal issues."

"Shadow-?" Sonic turned around and noticed his rival sitting down on the red couch, stretching his arms for a brief second. Shadow's eye was a huge mess because of the dirty looking blood clot and there were some drops of blood that tainted his white skates, probably from the leg injury. Shadow looked around Sonic's house, inspecting to see if there was any danger because he was so used to with being on guard all the time while Sonic rushed to the bathroom to bring out a small wet towel.

"Shadow, what happened to you?" asked Tails.

"Your little friend was too slow to save his girl friend," Shadow said calmly but Sonic didn't like Shadow labeling Amy as his girl friend in the first place.

"Hey, if you are jealous of Amy, you can have her any time you want, Shadow," Sonic sat down next to him, "Now close your left eye for a while so I can get that stuff off."

Shadow snatched the towel from Sonic's hand and expected Sonic to get mad by his ruthless behavior but the blue hedgehog just laughed it off, saying something like how he missed Shadow's usual behaviors. Shadow's gloves were also tainted with red liquid but he didn't bother to wash then as he rubbed his eyes gently. The internal bleeding on the left eye stopped which meant the curing process was finished when Shadow was asleep. Shadow thanked his body for being so quick at self repairing.

"Stop poking my leg. It's not like you are helping," Shadow commented but this didn't stop Sonic from examining any further.

"Your eye seems okay but I think I should treat your leg. You also shouldn't run- well in your case skate around for a day just to have it recover faster." Tails joined Sonic and he started to place a white powdery substance followed by a green gel on Shadow's leg. After Tails did all the medical part, Sonic brought a long bandage from the cabinet and started to wrap Shadow's left leg a little.

"Do you know how to wrap that thing?" Shadow was a little embarrassed by this whole situation and just wanted to say something to tease Sonic to hide his expression.

"Keep talking Shadow and I'll wrap it tighter than you think," Sonic smirked and released both of his hands, "Done~~~!"

"Hmph.." Shadow sighed and stood up from the couch to test out his legs. "Guess I'll be walking around just for one day."

"And you guessed correctly my friend," said Sonic, "So are you gonna let me enjoy into your little adventure of yours?"

"A… what….?" Shadow was a little confused.

"You said you want to gather the chaos emerald and want to figure out what Mephiles is really up to! I can help you, Shadow."

"More like you have to help him, Sonic," Tails tapped Sonic's shoulder, "Remember what we did with the emerald after the incident with last time..?"

"What do you mean? What did you guys do with emeralds?" asked Shadow. It has been a while since he searched for the chaos emerald since he had no purpose in finding them. It was also weird because he remembered Rouge saying something like she wasn't able to detect some of emeralds these day… _was Sonic and Tails responsible for this?_

"Oh yeah~~~ hey Shadow guess what? You have to let me in on your little search now!" Sonic jumped up and now with his expression filled with excitement, "I can't remember the last time when I partnered up with you!" Actually Sonic practically remembers the exact event when he and Shadow worked together and that was during the Black Doom's invasion. It was so fun working with his rival and Sonic didn't have to bother slowing down for him. Even though Shadow didn't really talk to him that much during their missions, it was still nice to have him as a company.

"Hold a second," Shadow sounded a little pissed off, "Before you jump into any conclusions what happened to emeralds? Did you guys destroy them or something?"

"Well you see Shadow, after the incident with Dr. Eggman, Sonic and I decided to send six of chaos emeralds into another dimension so they can be separated from each other," explained Tails.

"What? Why would you do that?"

"Because Shadow, those the seven emeralds always bring nothing but trouble when they fall into the wrong hand!" Sonic exclaimed, "I was tired of always making sure that the emeralds didn't go to the wrong hand and I even tried spreading the emerald in this planet once," Sonic remembered his battle with the Metarex, "And that plan still failed."

"Why did you guys only send six emeralds into another dimension then? Why not the whole seven chaos emeralds?" The topic interested Shadow but he also knew that he would definitely need Sonic's help to retrieve those emeralds.

"Well.. Tails's machine can only open six different worlds," Sonic shrugged, "He basically opened six portals and we dumped each chaos emeralds in there."

"And also, the city wanted to keep one of the chaos emerald for their studies," Tails rolled his eyes, "I guess the scientists are intrigued with the emerald's power so one emerald was in a secured museum."

"Yup, and that same secured museum was pulverized by Mephiles," said Sonic and this surprised Tails.

"H-he did?! So Mephiles took that emerald?! I think the color was white!"

"Don't worry Tails, we have it right here," Sonic took out the white emerald and showed to Tails who relaxed instantly, knowing that emerald did not fall into the evil's hand. "B-but how…?" Tails asked but Sonic was too lazy to explain the whole story with Omega and Shadow also didn't feel like talking to Tails.

"Eh.. long story short, we got the emerald and I can't believe I'm saying this but I guess we have to retrieve the other six emeralds then…" Sonic sighed and he sluggishly brought his body next to the couch Shadow sat on, a clear sign that Sonic was lazy to do all those task.

"Wait, why don't we just leave each of the emeralds in their own dimension?" Tails suggested, "As long as Mephiles can't reach those emeralds… then wouldn't it be safer for us to not retrieve them?"

"Mephiles can travel through time and different dimensions without chaos emeralds," Shadow jumped in before Sonic answered, "It wouldn't take long for him to find out that rest of the chaos emeralds are not in this world and-"

"He would start to search in different part of the world," Sonic finished and Shadow was about to open his mouth to say something to Sonic for cutting him off like that but Sonic was faster, "Yes I dared to interrupt your ultimate sentence, Shadow," he chuckled and Shadow just ignored Sonic with a frown on his lips.

"Plus," Sonic added, "we would need those emeralds to defeat Mephiles again but this time for real. We would have to make sure he is really dead.. right Shadow?"

But Shadow didn't answer and just stared coldly at Sonic.

"So Tails do you think you can do the magic and start opening those portals for us? Oh and bring that transmitter watch too. One for me and one for Shadow so when we find the emerald, we'll signal you to help us come back to this world and we'll just repeat the whole step until we gather all six of them."

Shadow was shocked to see Sonic actually coming up with a plan but it sounded pretty reasonable. Tails just smiled and told both of the hedgehogs to follow him to his lab that was located in the basement. 'One day I'm getting chased from GUN and now I have to work with him? My day is getting more and more interesting…' Shadow took a deep breath to release his frustration out.

"Okay you guys are all ready to go. Just shoot me a transmission if something seems a little off and I'll open an exit portal so you guys can escape and come back to this world," Tails explained calmly.

"Isn't it nice to have a smart friend around, Shadow?" Sonic gave a small nudge to Shadow's shoulder but Shadow didn't answer once again to Sonic's slight disappointment.

"How do you guys know if this is safe?" Shadow questioned while the dark portal opened, "What if something un-reversible happens while we're in there?

"Don't worry Shadow~ Tails is good with this stuff. He was able to play around with the emerald's power, well chaos control to be specific, and discovered this! Unless you want me to hold your hand when we enter the por-gyyyaaahhh!"

Shadow pushed off Sonic into the dark portal and the only thing that was heard was Sonic yelling something to Shadow but was hard to comprehend.

"Don't worry, I'll babysit him," Shadow reassured Tails before he also stepped into the portal. There were different types of blinding lights that passed around Shadow it made him really dizzy. 'Maybe I should close my eyes before I land on somethi-'

**Crash**

"Never mind.." Shadow said under his breath, "Where are you?"

"If you're looking for me buddy, I'm down here," Sonic tapped Shadow's tail, "Oh and nice trick with the pushing. I'll return the favor next time."

Shadow quickly stood up from Sonic but didn't bother to lend him a hand to get up or even say sorry. But Sonic tired to not let Shadow's action bother him because he was just being Shadow.

'It would have been nice if he showed some type of caring,' thought Sonic while he stood up from the cold floor.

"Where are we…?" Sonic asked Shadow but not really expecting an answer.

The surrounding was dark with a bright moon light that was covered by red clouds. The air smelled like roasted pumpkins and each trees had a shading that somewhat looked like scary faces. The floor lighted up with orange and white light bulbs and a eerie party music came from an unknown location. What really caught both of the hedgehogs' attentions was a huge castle right behind them shooting off various types of fireworks and there were crowds of people- well animals entering the castle in many directions while bantering away.

One thing that caught Shadow's attention was that these crowds were all in pairs, to be more specific they were in couples. A cat wearing a pirate clothing was talking to a squirrel dressed up in a nurse costume.

"Excuse me but I think you are standing in our way," someone tapped Shadow's shoulder and Shadow barely moved to allow two bunnies both dressed in a prince and a princess costume walk pass him.

"What in the world is this place…" Shadow questioned and it took him a few second to realize that Sonic was nowhere in is site. "Where the hell is he?!"

"Hey Shadow! Look over here!" as if Sonic heard Shadow's fury, the blue hedgehog waved his hand while he jumped up and down like a child not too far away from Shadow.

"Don't just run off like that!" Shadow snapped, a little scared that he might have lost Sonic in this unknown world, "We are not here on a vacation."

"Yeah Yeah~ I missed you to ," Sonic commented and pointed at the poster, "Read what this says!"

Celebrating fifty four annual Halloween Royal in Nightscown Ville.

There will be drinks, music, games and annual presentation of the purple gem that guarantees one year luck with anyone who takes it home for the rest of the year This night the party is only couple exclusive so get your costume and find your date! Because tonight is going to be a night with a heated fun that you will never regret!

"A… Nightscown Ville…?" Shadow raised an eyebrow. Now this whole situation seemed to have made sense a little. These couples were basically going to a childish Halloween party not that it mattered to Shadow.

"Apparently, this purple gem is the chaos emerald. So we have to go to that party and just snatch the emerald and tell Tails to open the portal and boom! First mission done in a flash!" Sonic snapped his fingers.

"I'm not sure if you want to just go in and crash the party," Shadow warned Sonic, "if you haven't noticed but some of these guys seem to have powers and are not just some ordinary creatures. We don't' want to have two versus the whole party group."

Sonic wanted to object to what Shadow just said about stating that Sonic's plan was a horrible idea but he realized Shadow had a good point. While some of the couples walked into the castle, they were playing around by summoning fires from their hands just like the ability that Blaze could perform. What shocked Sonic was the presence of another purple colored hedgehog that seemed to have the speed as he held his couple in his arm when rushing into the castle.

While Sonic was lost in observing different types of abilities that the crowd possessed, he felt a slight tug on his tail and his face blushed right away, thinking that it was Shadow.

"Hey Shadow! Watch the tail… uh.. w-what.?" Sonic's tail was wrapped around a black colored string that came directly from the fox lady.

"Excuse me honey, but could you be my date for this lovely evening? My boy friend seemed to have left me hanging again," the foxed smiled and when she snapped her fingers, the black string vanished into a thin smoke. "I'll make it worth a while…" She gave a small lick to her lips and slowly approached Sonic and this terrified the blue hedgehog a lot.

"S-sorry lady but I was just passing by with my buddy here!" Sonic pointed at Shadow, "We'll be leaving now."

"Oh come one~ I haven't seen a blue hedgehog in this town before," the fox summoned her black glowing string as a threat to Sonic, "Why don't we just go for a spin a little behind the castle."

This made Sonic sick to the stomach and he did not want to figure out what the lady was actually implying. Sonic was just about to protest when Shadow stepped between them and faced the fox lady who was slightly taller them him.

"Sorry but I believe what he's trying to tell you is that he is taken," said Shadow in a dull tone.

"Oh really? Well I don't see his girl friend nearby," she looked around, "Don't make me laugh."

"I'm his partner in a romantic sense if that's what you want so I would appreciate if you step aside," said Shadow as he took a step back to stand right next to Sonic.

'What did Shadow just say?!' Sonic thought. It took a while for the blue hedgehog to hide his confused and rather shocked face expression from the fox lady and clearly to Shadow. 'I hope he knows what he's saying!' Sonic blushed and directed his attention to his shoes which seemed really interesting at this moment. He wondered how his shoes would have looked if it was not a white stripe but a black or even blue stripe…

"Oh don't get too protective," she grinned at Shadow and her so called weapon vanished again, "I'm sorry if I was hitting on your boyfriend but I believe this is a strict female and male couple party so I think you guys should go and visit another party." The lady did not sound angry at all but rather disappointed as the fox looked around to find another target to be her boyfriend for the night.

"S-Shadow you.." Sonic didn't know what to say, "was that really necessary?!"

"Did you want that fox thing to get all touchy and possibly rape you?" Shadow hissed and Sonic scratched his ear in the slight uncomfortable topic.

"I thought so. Now we need to find a proper costume so we can join this absurd Halloween Party for a while before we clearly locate the emerald." Shadow pointed at a small shop just near the party castle and both he and Sonic jogged since Shadow still could not skate properly yet.

"Look costume seems a great but didn't you hear what that fox said?" Sonic rubbed through his blue quill with his hand, "it is a couple party and uh.. hello?! You and I do not have any girl friends at this moment?"

"Aren't you dating that pink hedgehog?" Shadow didn't face Sonic while they headed to the costume store.

"Don't you have something going with Rouge?" there was a hint of jealousy in Sonic's voice bur of course Shadow failed to recognize.

"She is just a comrade and nothing more."

"Same goes for me Shadow," Sonic stretched out his arms and yawned, "Amy is just a good friend of mine and nothing more~" But Sonic still didn't know how they were supposed to go into the couples only Halloween Party.

"So back to the topic Shadow, how are we going inside again?"

Then Shadow opened the door of the shop and made a hand gesture for Sonic to enter before him.

"Ladies first," he smirked. Shadow was going to enjoy Sonic's humiliation tonight as he scanned over the blue hero with his mouth wide open.

* * *

**Review Review!**


	3. Costumes and Crashed Party?

**Thank you everyone for the review! Also I'm thinking if I should add Zonic to this story since Shadow and Sonic are traveling through different types of world using dimensions and all 0_0**

* * *

Sonic did not like the smirk that was on Shadow's face and even before he had the time to protest about him, the hero and specifically a male hedgehog role playing as a female, Shadow managed to roughly push him inside the small shop that appeared to be an old costume store.

"Next time warn me before you push me inside!" Sonic blurted out.

"I did say ladies first," Shadow rolled his eyes and looked around to see a small owl sitting on the table cleaning his glasses. Once he wore his glasses, he flapped his wings as a sign of a welcome to the two hedgehogs.

"Hello fine evening we have here, yes?" the owl continued, "I can tell that you lovely couples are looking for a particular costume to go to that fancy castle party, yes?"

"Hey there! Yeah in fact we- ouch!" Sonic rubbed the arm where Shadow pushed and was dragged into the corner of the costume store.

"Excuse me for a moment, my partner and I need to have a small talk," Shadow stated with a calm voice.

"Y-yeah sure!" the owl seeemd a little confused but you can never go against the word of the costumers, that was the ruled that he followed by heart, "but don't get too lovey dovy, yes?"

Once Shadow just nodded, he and the blue hedgehog, who was struggling really hard to free himself from Shadow's grasp, went to the corner where there were different types of hats that were displayed.

"Shadow!" Sonic finally yanked his arm off, "what in the world is your problem, pal?!" the blue hedgehog tried to be nice since he wasn't really the type to get mad but even he was reaching his limits.

"When I told you to get like a female, I meant every word," Shadow came closer and Sonic unknowingly walked backward until he was pushed against the hat shelf.

"Y-you.. you can't be serious," Sonic tried to chuckle and hope that Shadow would say that it was a sick joke. Apparently, Shadow really did mean everything that he said.

"Look, until we find the exact location of the emerald inside the castle, we just have to pretend like we came to that absurd party for..."

"A good time?" Sonic smiled and patted Shadow's shoulder to ease the situation, "which is something that you definitely need my friend."

"The point is," Shadow shook off, "just like a female until we detect the location. I can't sense the emerald which means it is pretty damn well hidden. Understood?" Shadow raised his voice a little.

"One question," Sonic raised his index finger, "how am I supposed to act like a girl? I don't even sound like a girl in the first place if you know what I mean."

"Figure it out," Shadow turned away from Sonic when he finished making his point, "you have a girl friend to refer your actions too."

At Shadow's comment about Amy being his girlfriend, Sonic twitched his ears as an annoyance and stomped his right foot, "I told you she is just a good friend! why does everything one think-"

"Is everything okay here? yes?" the owl suddenly appeared about of no where and was sitting on the top shelf. "I did say not to get too comfortable, yes?"

"It was a small private conversation," Shadow looked at Sonic, "which won't be happening again I assume."

Sonic also wanted to say something back to Shadow but he took his cue that he was not supposed to talk since it will fully reveal that he is a male. So instead of just nodding or doing any type of simple movement, Sonic returned the same smirk that Shadow did before and did something that the black hedgehog didn't expect it at all.

"...?!" Shadow's eyes were wide open in a confusion and clearly in an embarrassment as Sonic launched himself in the air and hugged Shadow with both of his arms just like how Amy would do to him. Sonic then closed his eyes and rested his face on Shadow's shoulder, enjoying every moment of it. Hey, Shadow did say reference it from Amy so that's what Sonic was doing, right?

"Awww how cute, your girlfriend seem to be very fond of you, yes?" the owl thought that Sonic's action was adorable. But Shadow thought it was plain annoying but also surprised that Sonic would be taking his role play as a girl seriously. Perhaps... too seriously.

"Get off.. now!" Shadow hissed under his breath so the owl wouldn't hear him.

Sonic, of course, opened one of his eyes to check Shadow's expression before closing his eyes and snuggling to Shadow even more. Shadow's face heated up a little because of this sudden contact and just decided to drop the conversation.

"S-so do you have anything to offer to us?" Shadow surprised himself by stuttering a little and Sonic laughed to himself.

"Yes, yes! I have something good especially for your little blue girlfriend," the owl flew and in a second came back with a purple witch hat that had blue sparkles, a purple cape with patterns of moons and stars attached and also a dark blue matching shoes that went along with the whole set.

"This even comes with a little star wand, cute yes?" the owl pulled out a wand from the back of the feathers and displayed the whole set in front of Shadow.

Sonic's face went pale while Shadow observed the costume even more. There was no way Sonic was going to wear something so...feminine!

The shocked hedgehog kept pulling on Shadow's arm to get his attention. "Shadow..." Sonic whispered so he wouldn't get in trouble again, "Shadow...! There is no way I am wearing that..!" Sonic hissed.

Shadow completely ignored Sonic's whisper and spoke to the owl, "do you have any other selections?"

"Ah your girlfriend does not like this yes?" the owl flew to one of the section and came back with another costume that even shocked Sonic more. It was a light blue maid dress outfit and a small blue bow-tie for the tail. Sonic shook his face violently, letting his large quills move side to side and this attracted Shadow's attention.

"Excuse me a moment," Shadow spoke to the owl and turned to Sonic. "I want to get out from this silly place as much as we do. So just pick the costume that the owl provided to us and let's leave!"

Sonic kept shaking his head and gave Shadow the pissed of look.

"It's either that dress or the purple cape set. You pick one before I decided to pick it for you myself. But I need to remind you, I love to humiliate a certain hedgehog because he has a huge ego!"

"I... uh..." SOnic didn't know why but every time when Shadow got so mad at him. this caused Sonic to feel really bad and not to mention his so called oversized ego shrunk as well. It was really different from his other friends like Knuckles or Amy. Now when Knuclkes got mad, Sonic just thought it was fun to see the red one getting all frustrated and wanted to tease him more. When it was Amy getting mad at him, SOnic just took it as another session of tolerating with Amy. But when it was Shadow getting mad and also raising his vocie in front of him, this had a totally different effect on Sonic. Sonic actually want to be the source of Shadow's frustration. Sonic took a deep breath and weakly nodded. The blue hedgehog then gently pushed Shadow aside and raised his finger to point oto the purple witch cape with a hat costume to the owl. It was better then wearing a freaking dress so SOnic tried to be optimistic that Shadow managed to at least give him a choice.

THe black hedgehog was surprised to see the blue hedgehog so calm. Maybe SHadow did win this argument after all but he felt a little bad for taking control of Sonic like that. But there was no way in the world that Shadow was going to admit that to his lube rival. Shadow just took that thought aside and talked to the owl.

"I guess that first costume you brought to us will do," he stated.

"Yes, yes! This is the best one that I have right now! Also we need one for yourself as well," the owl directly talked to Shadow. "you have lovely color combination of red and black.. how about something that is related to a reaper or even a vampire?"

"I... well-" before Shadow had the time to talk back, the owl flew to the back of the section to pull of some clothes.

"You.." Shadow searched for some words to say without sounding so mad to Sonic, "you don't have to hold that ridiculous wand," Shadow took the wand and placed it back on the shelf, "the hat and the cape should be fine. Don't even bother the costume shoes, I know you don't want to change that as well."

Since the owl didn't return, Sonic was able to speak a little as well, "Geeze Shadow, it's nice to hear something nice coming out from your mouth," Sonic laughed a little, "Thanks buddy. It isn't so bad," he tried to reassure himself.

"you can pick one from here, yes?" the owl had two different types of clothes and both of them Shadow did not like it at all. On the left side, there was a black cape, a Marget pendent necklace that also came with a matching rings. On the right side of the owl, there was a gray color cloak that had a hood attached. There was also a large weapon that seemed to resemble a scythe. Shadow didn't want to carry something ridiculous so he picked the black cape with accessories instead.

"That's the vampire one, you also need artificial fangs then, yes?" the owl asked but Shadow simply shook his head.

"I already have a fang on my own," Shadow opened his mouth barely enough to reveal his two sharp canine teeth on the either side of is jaw. This caused Sonic to unknowingly search through inside of his mouth using his tongue. How come he didn't have those? He is also an hedgehog you know.

"And you guys need to enter that game to win the purple gem for the year, yes?" the owl took our two black and purple ticket from the drawer.

"There... is a ticket that we need see the gem?" Shadow asked and sighed to himself.

"I'm guessing this is the first time you guys are attending this event, yes?" the Owl can closer to Sonic and Shadow, "there were few incidents where people would just steal the gem without going through the competition, those thefts! Anyways there were many attempts where people would just try to steal but it was never successful because of the powerful guards we have here. So to make it more safe, just few years ago, the ticket system was created to make sure only the qualified couples would be able to see the purple gem. You guys just need to show me your ID before purchase. So you have the ID with you, yes?"

Shadow turned around to see if Sonic had any ideas to get out of this situation they were in. Sonic on the other hand didn't have any ideas or even the back up plans. But judging by what the Owl said, the security system in this world must be pretty tough to get through if there were so many thief trying to steal and there weren't any successful attempts. The blue hedgehog just shrugged and passed a concerned look to Shadow.

'Now that I think of it, even if we did manage to have a fake ID, how are we supposed to pay for all this?' Shadow thought to himself and gave out another depressing sigh. Things were just getting more complicated. 'I guess I need to work out some business with the old man.'

"Excuse me but I don't think we can present ourselves with the proper ID tonight," Shadow mentally calculated what he was going to say before proceeding, "my partner lost her wallet while we were coming here so we need to get a replacement ID," Shadow glanced at the fuming blue hedgehog, "she's a little clumsy. But if you still decided to sell us both the ticket and the costumes I will make it worth a while."

Sonic walked slowly next to Shadow and tried to figure out what Shadow was up to. Sonic tapped his foot a little and scanned Shadow's movement until he realized something. Shadow was slowly taking off both of his golden power rings. Sonic stared at two pieces of shiny items that had his reflection on it and it didn't take long enough for Sonic to find out Shadow's plan.

"You can't do that!" Sonic whispered loudly, almost reveling his real voice.

"What's wrong? This is the perfect payment for our lack of money and the ID, don't you agree?" Shadow made an eye contact at the Owl had his eyes glued to the rings.

"It's been a while since I encountered real gold, yes?" the Owl hopped a little with his two little feet to take a little closer look, "this is real gold, yes?"

Of course Shadow knew this was not real a pure gold. In fact, Shadow didn't really had a clear idea what his power rings were made out of in the first place. But he knew it for a fact that they were just more than cheap metal rings since they helped him to maintain and not release his chaos energy all at once.

"Yes it is," said Shadow, "You can have a closer look while I talk with her," Shadow handed over his power rings to the Owl who took them eagerly and observed them meticulously.

"Shadow what are you doing?" there was more worried voice in Sonic's tone than frustration, "I've seen how you act without your power rings a couple of times and I don't think those were any good signs either."

"Then what do you suggest? We need these items for now," Shadow rolled his eyes, "and besides, I will just use the white chaos emerald to chaos control into this shop after closing time to get my rings back."

Sonic blinked a couple of times and scratched one of his quills. "Uhh.. Shadow? So you have the emerald.. right?"

Shadow unknowingly opened his mouth a little in surprise, "I thought you had it the whole time? Where the hell did you lose it?" the black hedgehog started to lose his temper a little. Really, Sonic was not helpful at all so far instead of keeping his mouth shut.

"I... I think I left it on Tail's table.. hehheh.." Sonic smiled a little, "h-hey it's not my fault! If you didn't suddenly pushed me then maybe I would have been able to notice the white chaos emerald!"

"You... Ha.. forget it. Us fighting is not going to take us anywhere. I'll figure out a way to get my rings back from this salesman somehow... but right now we have to get into that castle and locate the emerald."

Sonic suddenly felt uncomfortable having the eye contact with Shadow. He never thought Shadow would make that kind of sacrifice in the first place. His darker rival tried to made it sound like it was no big deal but Sonic knew Shadow was trying to hide the truth. Without the power rings, Shadow will be limited and needed to be careful about how much power he was going to release. When if Shadow suddenly fainted in a worse possible scenario? Sonic didn't mind protecting and covering up for Shadow but would Shadow be physically okay? Would he drain too much of his chaos energy?

But Sonic had too much pride and ego to ask all those concerns to Shadow. Instead, the blue hedgehog gently nodded in an agreement.

"Yes yes! These lovely rings would make an excellent gift for my lovely wife," the Owl jumped into Shadow and Sonic's conversation, "it is actually illegal for me to sell tickets without the ID but I'll keep this under the table, yes."

With that the Owl flew to his old table and took out two tickets. He then handed them over to Shadow who accepted and stated a simple thanks before leaving the costume store with Sonic.

Once both hedgehogs were outside, the cool night breeze welcomed the two supposedly couple as the party music from the castle became louder than before. The sky was now colored in a dark purple that matched with the witch costume that was for Sonic. Shadow held both tickets and costumes while Sonic didn't hold anything. Shadow first looked around to see if there were any more couples before talking to Sonic again.

"I think you can talk here," Shadow handed the hat and the cape to the blue hero, "put these on so we can go in."

"Shadow, you sure this is a good idea?" Sonic stated flatly.

At this very moment, Shadow could feel the excess chaos energy just flowing out and leaving his body little at a time. Without his power rings keeping the energy locked inside his body, Shadow needed to calculate how long he would be able to last without his rings. That was one of the weakness to the ultimate life form which sometimes made Shadow a little stressed out. This also confirmed to shadow that he was not the perfect creation because of his idiotic limitation. It was like he was literally depended on those rings!

"The ultimate life form... humor me..." Shadow murmured to himself.

"What was that?" Sonic's ears perked up and Shadow's eyes opened widely in surprise.

"It's fine. I can handle few hours without those limiters as long as I don't use my chaos powers too much," Shadow took black cape and started to wear his costume.

"Just tell me when you're running out of juice," Sonic patted Shadow's back, "I don't want you fainting and missing the party you know."

"Hmph," Shadow replied and started to wear the necklace and rings that went along with his vampire costumes. It felt really silly wearing those and he knew that he needed to look like the party guest in order to ease off any suspicious looks he and Sonic might receive. The gold metal necklace brought a slight chill to the black hedgehog while the blue rings on his fingers just were just heavy.

"Are you ready?" Shadow was really not in a good mood after he finished getting ready.

"Just wait a- agh! second... grrr...!"

"What are you up to know?" Shadow raised his voice but he noticed that Sonic was heaving trouble with the purple witch hat.

"I can't get this hat on my head... it doesn't have any holes for the ears!" Sonic tried to make a whole on to the hat using his fingers but the fabric was too thick.

"Just wear it covering your ears then," grumbled Shadow, "it shouldn't bother you that much."

Sonic took off the hat again in frustration, "it is pretty annoying if you can't hear anything clearly. Wonder if there's anything we can use..." Sonic trailed off and failed to notice Shadow slowly losing his temper.

"you are like a small child..." Shadow closed his eyes to decrease his temper before opening them again, "throw the hat in the air."

"What?" Sonic raised one eye.

"Just do it."

With that, Sonic took off the purple witch hat and threw it high up to the cool night sky. While the hat was in the mid air, Shadow stared at it to find the perfect spot to make two holes for Sonic's small ears.

"Chaos-" Shadow raised his right arm and in a instant, he could feel his chaos energy getting wasted even for a small attack, "Spear!" Shadow gave a small wave and in a flash, two yellow chaos energy, a lot small than the usual ones that he would attack Sonic with, went straight for the floating hat. Right before, Sonic's eyes, the purple hat gave out a neon colored flash before hitting softly to the grass below Sonic's red and white running shoes.

"Hey hey," Sonic picked up the hat and placed his white gloved finger to the two small holes just perfect for his blue ears, "the perfect spot for my delicate ears, thanks Shadow," Sonic said with a thumbs up.

"Let's go," Shadow ignored Sonic's comment and started to walk. Sonic touched his ears to make sure they were outside of the witch hat before tagging along behind Shadow. Few seconds later, Sonic tapped on Shadow's back quills with the star wand in his hand.

"What now -wait.. I thought you left that wand at the shop?" Shadow was curious to see Sonic holding the object.

Sonic actually decided to bring the wand with him to make himself look more like the feminine one even if he has to hold the stupid item. The blue hedgehog actually felt that Shadow decided to give up his golden rings, even for few hours just so they can safely locate the purple chaos emerald. So in return, Sonic swallowed his pride and snatched the star wand before they left the shop.

"Does this make me look cute?" Sonic waved the wand as a joke and to his surprise, Shadow actually responded to the comment.

"Yes you look perfect as my date," Shadow said with full sarcasm but Sonic laughed hard.

"Thanks, maybe I can give this to Rouge when she needs to flirt with you."

"I wouldn't continue to talk if I were you," Shadow shook his head and increased his pace.

"Sorry pal," Sonic raised his hands in defeat, "but really if you need tips on those relationship stuff I'm more than happy to help out Shadow."

"Rouge is just a comrade when I go on missions and nothing more," said Shadow, "I don't know why everyone thinks we have something going on together."

Shadow started to sound a little pissed off so Sonic thought it was best to stop making comments but Shadow's last sentence somehow... Sonic didn't know but he felt a big wave of relief to hear that Shadow sincerely didn't have any interest in Rouge. It just felt good to know.

Once both hedgehogs were in front of the castle gate, they waited for the guard to show tickets but nobody was in front of the castle.

"I guess we just go inside?" Sonic asked and they both entered the building.

Sonic thought he would see people dancing, having fun with lots of food and music but he was dead wrong.

There were screams and party couples running around everywhere. Some of them were on the floor with huge injuries while others were hiding under table. There were some blood marks on the castle wall and windows shattered into giant pieces.

"Anyone dares to challenge me or have I proved myself that I am worthy to take that chaos emerald," said the shadowy figure.

"W-we... we will never give up the purple gem to you...!" One of the cat raised her voice and showed her claws to display that she can still take on the fights.

"I guess I need to kill some more..."

The dark figure raised his hand and all of the sudden, what seemed like purple diamonds fell from the sky straight for the victim. The brown cat closed her eyes to meet her faith but felt someone scooping her in a bridal style in a flash.

"W...What...?" the cat opened her eyes to see a female looking blue hedgehog with a witch costume.

"Thank you," the cat gave a huge bow to Sonic, "you saved my life. Very fast for a lady."

"Sorry but I'm actually a guy," Sonic chuckled and threw his costume and the star shaped wand away to the floor. The cat just blushed a little.

"Mephiles, you'll stop this foolish act, now" Shadow pointed at the black and green hedgehog who resembled his physical appearance.

"Ha, I can't believe you are also in this dimension Shadow," Mephiles gave a dark smirk, "and what will you do if I continue to do this?" he raised his hand again to aim the sharp diamond like objects to the brown cat and Sonic. The blue hero was in his attack mode, getting prepared to dodge anything while protecting the cat but Shadow didn't want to take any chance.

Even before Mephiles had time to turn his head back to Shadow, the black hedgehog started his rocket shoes and skated to his enemy in an extreme speed. He started to feel a small sore in his injured leg but that was something that Shadow was able to manage. Shadow kicked his copycat while doing a back flip and people in the castle raised their head to see Mephiles flying to the high top of the ceiling from Shadow's powerful kick.

"Why you little...!" Mephiles tried to balance himself while he was in he midair. To restrain Mephiles, Shadow shot some chaos spears before positioning himself to jump. In an instant, Shadow also leaped himself into the air to meet face to face with Mephiles.

"Chaos...!" Shadow glowed in red and his red eyes started to sparkle as well. Sonic took this sign right away and quickly yelled at his friend.

"Shadow stop! You don't have the rings on!"

"BLAST!"

Shadow knew his chaos blast would hurt and possibly kill some of the innocent people in the castle room so he planned ahead to use his power while they were in the high top of the castle to avoid any possible damage other than Mephiles.

What Shadow didn't plan on was the amount of energy he would lose after using his chaos blast. He never used his powerful attack without the limiter off.

The explosion swallowed both Shadow and Mephiles in a flash. People on the bottom floor gasped and some of them screamed in fear. Sonic's emerald eye searched and moved rapidly to find Shadow in the red and yellow explosion.

"Shadow!" Sonic yelled again.

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**Review makes a certain hedgehog happy :3**


	4. I Choose to Stay, Shadow!

**Thank you so much for reviews! Hope you guys enjoyed my reply to you guys as well!**

**A lot of people seem to like the idea of Zonic :D**

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"Shadow!" Sonic yelled with his emerald eyes searching for his rival. The red explosion quickly turned into thick and black smoke that covered half of the castle's ceiling. The smell was dry and gave out an ash scent throughout the dark castle ball room. Some people used this chance to escape the castle with their injured couples while some decided to stay behind in the castle for whatever the reason.

When the smoke started to clear out a little, there was a black figure that moved towards Sonic.

"I hope it's Shadow..." Sonic said to himself and got into his battle position just in case if it was Mephiles. It was confusing even to Sonic because Shadow and Mephiles had similar features except for their quill stripe colors.

"Shadow! It's you!" the blue hedgehog gave out a huge relief and relaxed his quills a little, "are you doing okay?"

"Don't mind me," Shadow answered but he sounded a little weary, "Did Mephiles fall down? I couldn't really detect him."

"I'm not too sure.." Sonic looked up at the ceiling again. To be honest, Sonic was only busy searching for Shadow when he used his chaos blast. "But I hate to break it to you, I don't think Mephiles would go down that easy," Sonic reminded Shadow.

"Which is why I need to find him," Shadow stated.

"Hey I'm here to help too you know!" Sonic fought back, "Don't use all your powers at once."

"I know what I'm doing."

This was one thing that even Sonic had hard time which was confronting Shadow's temper. The room cleared out a little and except for the party guests, Sonic and Shadow couldn't find Mephiles anywhere. The castle was really quiet and only the sound of the trees blowing in the wind just outside of the tree was echoing.

Something was really odd and few minutes later, Shadow realized something as he quickly jumped back from Sonic.

"S-Shadow what's wrong?!" this certainly surprised Sonic as the confused hedgehog tried to go back to Shadow but his rival stepped back even more.

"Don't come near me!" Shadow's stern voice scared Sonic a little, "Mephiles, he's probably hiding-"

"Under your shadow..."

"W-what?!" Sonic shifted his green emerald eyes towards Shadow's shadow and a hand literally came out from the shadowy figure and wrapped around Shadow's neck.

"Shadow!" Sonic quickly raced to Mephiles and Shadow as fast as possible. But no matter how fast Sonic raced his two feet, the blue hedgehog was not going anywhere! He was just running around in the same spot where he was standing before.

"What the...?" Sonic glanced at the floor to see a purple smog which glued Sonic to the floor. Mephiles just gave out a dark laughter at Sonic's poor situation while Shadow continued to gasp for air.

"So Shadow, how will you get out of this one? Should I just finish you now or play around with you some more?" Mephiles brought his mouth close to Shadow's ear which angered the black hedgehog even more. Shadow could just feel Mephiles' breath bothering his sensitive ears. Shadow shook his body a little and made a small effort to turn is head around to face Mephiles

"You forgot Mephiles, I am," Shadow used his elbow to easily break away from Mephiles' grasp and punched him right on the face, "the ultimate life form!"

"And I'm the ultimate hedgehog!" Sonic decided to use his spin dash to break free from Mephiles' trap and charged to hit Mephiles. The spiky blue ball landed right on Mephiles' stomach and continued to spin to produce more damage and impact.

"Hey Shadow! Catch!" Sonic kicked Mephiles to the side.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow aimed right for Mephiles which made a direct hit. Both Sonic and Shadow saw Mephiles hurling down to the castle floor with a huge crash sound few seconds later. The silence filled the dark castle room and some people went closer, hoping to see the dead corpse of the villain.

"Do you think we did it?" Sonic came right next to Shadow and carefully checked Shadow's condition.

"No...something's wrong here," Shadow rubbed the area were Mephiles once grabbed, "he wasn't even putting up a fight. I dont think that was the real Mephiles."

"What?! Wait wait wait hold on!" Sonic jumped, "you mean if that was the clone then where is the real one?"

Shadow could feel his muscle getting all tensed again as he searched around the castle ball room. The people who were watching this battle scene also got the signal that they did not win the war yet. Just then, Shadow felt a strong sense of chaos energy pumping inside him out of nowhere . The cold yet electric sensation flowed inside him as the image of the purple chaos emerald passed through his mind .

"Watch out!" Shadow yelled and quickly grabbed Sonic and jumped into the air. Sonic's face heated up a little when Shadow's hands tightly gripped on to his blue body. Then when Sonic looked below, Mephiles popped out with the purple chaos emerald in his right hand.

"The purple gem!" Few people screamed in horror.

"How in the world did he find the chaos emerald so easily?!" Sonic fumed.

"Doesn't matter. We just have to get it back now," Shadow looked at Sonic "hope you learned how to land by yourself."

"Wait wha..?" Sonic's emerald colored eye opened widely as Shadow's hands released him into the from the mid air.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow released large amount of his energy towards Mephiles.

"You think your little lightning can stop me?!" Mephiles chuckled and threw some purple shaped daggers to cancel out Shadow's attack. Shadow quickly realized that his spears were no longer effective to the enemy so he quickly changed his fighting method. Shadow skated right towards Mephiles and used numerous amounts of homing attacks but Mephilea dodged them easily.

Mean while Sonic tried to figure out what made Mephiles so powerful. He knew that Mephiles had powers but not this much.

'It must be that chaos emerald...' Sonic thought to himself, 'I need to steal it back. before Shadow uses all his energy!'

While Shadow and Mephiles continued to throw attacks to each other, Sonic swiftly ran right behind Mephiles.

"Hey Mephy~~~" Sonic pulled out his tongue and wagged his tail to mock the enemy, "Can you catch up with the sonic speed?"

"Grrrrr….. I killed you once and I can kill you again!" Mephiles yelled and in an instant the castle floor started to grow purple diamonds that were sharp as razors. By this time, most of the survivors from Mephiles' attack left the party castle and it was just the three hedgehogs and few dead corpses. Even with Mephiles' raging attack, Sonic was able to jump and dodge without any problem using his speed.

"Hold still!" Mephiles hissed.

"I will do that after-" Sonic spin dashed and quickly took the purple chaos emerald right from his hand, "I take this beauty!"

"What?! When in the world did you-"

"Chaos-" Shadow came out of nowhere and directly pinned down his copycat to the floor, "Blast!"

Another explosion came along and Sonic managed to get away from Shadow's chaos attack once again. As soon as the red explosion cleared out, Sonic ran right beside Shadow to support him just in case if the black hedgehog started to feel weak.

"Two chaos blast, some spears and beating up Mephiles," Sonic commented to Shadow, "tell me if you need a lift later buddy."

This time Shadow didn't even gave a nod or any type of remark to Sonic. He just kept panting and shook his head a little to keep him awake in this situation.

'Shadow...' Sonic gave a worried look to his friend, 'you don't look too good...'

Shadow noticed that Sonic's eyes were glued to his body, probably checking his condition but this time Shadow really felt like he would fall onto his knee any time soon. He felt so drained out his body was running extremely low. Shadow wanted to keep his mouth closed to not show any weakness but his body kept asking for air. Shadow's vision started to feel hazy and he needed tk blink a few times to get his perspective in focus. All of the sudden, Shadow felt a small burst of energy. A chaos energy.

"Here you go Shadow," Sonic gave Shadow the purple chaos emerald he took from Mephiles, "I think you need this more than me right now," the blue hedgehog winked.

Shadow wanted to say thank you but his stubborn personality didn't allow him to say those simple words. Instead, Shadow just nodded and took the emerald from Sonic's hand.

"Bravo, you took the emerald how wonderful," said Mephiles as he came out from the ashes, "I didn't expect to kill the ultimate life form just with two emeralds."

"What do you mean two?" Sonic chuckled, "Hope you know how to count Mephiles."

"This is my second one. Your lovely friends Tails and Knuckles handed to me to save their pitiful lives," Mephils gave out a dark laughter and presented the white emerald.

"W-what?! You attacked my friends?!" This time Sonic completely lost his temper and was about to charge at Mephiles but Shadow quickly grabbed Sonic's tail to restrain him.

"Calm down," Shadow whispered.

"I shall return for that purple emerald later," Mephiles used his white chaos emerald to open another dimension, "I am off to collect the other chaos emerald. Until we meet again Sonic and my dear Shadow."

With that, Mephiles entered the green and purple colored doorway to another world. The dimension portal did not close itself which meant that Mephiles wanted the two hedgehogs to follow right behind him to continue his plan.

'I have to follow him,' Shadow thought to himself.

"T-Tails...what if something horrible happened to him?!" Sonic paced around and couldn't calm down. All different types of situations were running around in his head like..what if Mephiles injured Tails so much to the point where Sonic needed to rush him to the hospital? It would be all Sonic's fault because he was the one that carelessly left the white emerald back in his world.

Shadow on the other hand really didn't care about Sonic's friend since that was not his concern but the black rival did somewhat showed a very very tiny concern to the blue hedgehog. Shadow also noticed to himself that the only reason Sonic was in this mess was because of him and Mephiles.

"But I never asked for his help..." Shadow trailed off but kept his glowing red eyes were on to Sonic. The poor blue hedgehog looked as if he was on the edge of breaking down because something really bad could have happened to Tails. Wait...didn't Tails give some kind of device so Sonic and Tails can communicate with each other?

"Hey," Shadow tried to get Sonic's attention, "stop running around and listen. Don't you have something that can transfer messages to your friend?"

Sonic stopped instantly and looked at his peach wrist and face palmed himself. Of course he had a device to talk with Tails! Tails gave one to him before they left his world.

"You're the best, Shadow!" Sonic chirped and quickly pressed the buttons to connect with Tails in his world. To Sonic's relief, it only took few seconds for someone to answer but it was not Tails.

"Hello? Sonic?"

"Knuckles?! Hey I am so glad to hear you and all but where's Tails?" Sonic sounded desperate.

"You would never guess what happened," Knuckles panted, "Mephiles came here and tried to take the emerald and asked us about where you and Shadow went and-"

"Knuckles! What happened to Tails?" Sonic interrupted. Shadow was surprised to see Sonic showing some little rage to his close friend.

"We are in the hospital but-"

"What?!" Sonic wanted to pull out his quills.

"But don't worry! He survived but we needed to give Mephiles the emerald in exchange to stop messing around with us. Hope you aren't too mad about the chaos emerald, Sonic."

"Ha...Knuckles," sighed Sonic, "You two are important. Much more important than that stupid problem causing emerald," said Sonic.

"Good and don't worry about Tails. As soon as he gets better, he can operate that machine to bring you back to this world, Sonic."

"No let Tails get his full rest. I have one emerald so maybe I can ask Shadow to chaos control us back and- " Sonic was about to say he wanted to go back as soon as possible to greet Tails and Knuckles. He also wanted to check if his friends were not too hurl but..something or someone was stopping the blue hero.

"Hey Knuckles, I'll contact you back really quick. I just need to take care of something."

Before Knuckles had time to say anything or even ask questions, Sonic turned off the watch looking device and was lost in his own thought. It was not like Sonic didn't want to see Tails... but he also didn't want to leave Shadow by himself either. Sure even though the stubborn black hedgehog claims that he can handle on his own but for how long? Sonic was pretty sure Shadow wanted to pursue Mephiles and not return to their world any time soon.

Shadow seemed to have lost a lot of energy during that short battle but his motivation and anger was still there. It was clear that Sonic wanted to go home and visit Tails while Shadow wanted to follow the portal that Mephiles left behind

Shadow noticed that Sonic simply stood there and didn't say a single word. But Shadow heard the whole conversation as well and understood that Sonic wanted to go home right this instant. The awkward silence continued for what seemed like forever until Shadow tapped Sonic for the first time.

"Mephiles left the portal opened to another dimension," Shadow pointed at the dark vortex, "like what you said, I can use chaos control with one emerald but.."

Sonic didn't like where this was going.

"My energy is running slightly low," which was a lie because Shadow had to use every bit of energy to stand straight at this point. His energy was more than slightly running low.

Sonic didn't say anything and just paid attention.

"I can chaos control but only one of us. Not only that, even if I had full chaos energy with me, traveling through different dimension requires more than one emerald but if it is just one of us... I can probably manage it."

Sonic's mouth was tightly closed and this annoyed Shadow even more. Sure, when he wanted the blue hedgehog to talk, he just has to do the exact opposite

"Are you listening to me?!" Shadow shook Sonic's shoulder and panted little, "when I say chaos control, quickly take the emerald from me. You'll return to your world and I can continue my own business with Mephiles, got it?!"

Shadow looked straight into Sonic's green eyes but didn't receive anything. Not even a simple nod or some ridiculous comments that Sonic usually make. What was wrong with him? Shadow actually decided to accommodate Sonic but if he refuses to follow his command then what was he supposed to do? Since Sonic didn't say anything, Shadow took that silence as an okay sign and proceeded his plan. The black hedgehog held the purple emerald in his hand and the jewel began to glow like a bright sunlight in a night time.

"Chaos...!"

"Shadow! Stop!" Sonic yelled and unknowingly pushed Shadow to the hard floor. The black hedgehog yelped a little and the fall of the impact caused him the drop the chaos emerald right next to him. Shadow snorted and tried to get back the emerald but Sonic crawled and pinned Shadow to the floor. Shadow never thought Sonic had this much strength because he couldn't do anything under Sonic's grasp. Or maybe it was because Shadow was too weak to fight off Sonic.

"What are you doing?!" Shadow growled and tilted his head upward to face Sonic.

"I...you...you can't chaos control just me you know!" Sonic's face came closer to Shadow then he had expected. The dark hedgehog blinked for a second and realized that both of their faces were very close so he moved his head to the side. Thos caused Sonic to slightly stand up to avoid Shadow's spiky quills.

"Say something that makes sense to me," said Shadow even though his head was turned away, one of his ears was pointing to Sonic. A clear sign that he was listening.

"Hey I am not leaving you alone to have all the fun with Mephiles!" Sonic's eyes softened.

"I know how much your friends mean to you" Shadow's head still tilted to the side, "I don't understand why you won't let me."

"Well Shadow... u-um..." Sonic stuttered, "I want to...to stay here and help you out that's all."

"..." Shadow frowned a little and thought Sonic would say something more but the blue hero remained silent. "If you think I can't handle this situation on my own then-"

"That's just it Shadow," Sonic calmly interrupted, "I'm not judging you in anyway honest!" Sonic waved his two gloved hands back and forth in mid air, "I'm pretty sure the ultimate life form can take of this situation by himself but..."

"But?" Shadow narrowed his eyes a little more and this intimated Sonic slightly.

"But I... think t-two hedgehogs are better than one don't ya think?" Sonic ran his hand through the blue quills. His fingers traced one of the large quill that was right in the center to distract Shadow's red orb eye from staring at him.

"Excuse me?" asked Shadow.

Sonic really wished Shadow would stop pushing his buttons and just drop this conversation already. Usually when Sonic offered his help people would be cheerfully saying thank you and be all happy about it without asking any questions. But this particular black hedgehog was another story. Shadow crossed his arms to show Sonic that he was still waiting for him to respond

"Look, why you gotta be so cold? I just want to help my friend, that's all."

"I am not in any part of your friendship circle," Shadow sighed, "and I also know that your real friends are waiting for you at the other world. Mephiles is not really interested in world domination... yet. It looks like he just wants to pick a fight with me which is none of your business."

Sonic's blue ears folded a little and his arms weakly dropped to his sides.

"I'll let you know when it becomes your business," Shadow stated.

"And when would that be?" Sonic rolled his eyes.

"When it involves two things. Your friends or this pathetic planet," Shadow faced Sonic directly and he realize that Sonic was still sitting on top of him. But it looked like the blue hedgehog didn't want to get off until this issue was solved.

"You forgot one more thing!" Sonic exclaimed. He realized that Shadow was getting a little uncomfortable with their physical position so he quickly got off and gave his rival a helping hand.

But Shadow just continued to have his back on the cool castle floor and gave Sonic a questioning look.

"What did I forget?" Shadow asked.

Sonic chuckled and grabbed Shadow's hand. He then easily pulled Shadow up to his feet. Sonic noticed how low energy Shadow had since it wasn't hard for Sonic to forcefully push him back up. Either that or Shadow was light as a feather!

"Shadow the Hedgehog!" Sonic said proudly and gave his signature smile.

"..."

"If Shadow is involved then like it or not, it is also my problem."

Shadow let out a deep breath and thought about everything he went through today. It started out as him skating around to hide from GUN, meeting Mephiles, saving the pink hedgehog and allowing Sonic to follow his mission. But Shadow had to admit, it was a little..well nice to have another companion on his mission. When he was alone and running away from the GUN force it did annoy him but he was still scared. He didn't know what would happen to him if he gets capture.

'He is a little pain to tag along with...' Shadow looked at Sonic who stood there with a smile, 'but it is nice to have someone who thinks I'm not causing all these destructions. Not to mention he helped me to get one of Mephiles' emeralds back.'

Shadow recalled when he first met Sonic during the Black Doom's invasion to this planet. He was skating around until Sonic appeared out of nowhere and decided to follow Shadow until the end.

Shadow also thought back to the recent Sonic's 21 birthday party where Sonic just came to have a small talk with him after he said goodbye to the classic Sonia from the past.

'Maybe it's time I let Sonic enter my boundary a little...' Shadow trailed off. His relationship with Sonic did changed a lot since the Ark incident and the amnesia he went through. In fact all this time maybe Shadow was more stubborn then Sonic after all.

Shadow's face heated a little, a clear sign that he was embarrassed and said, "...Fine."

Sonic twitched his ears and faced brightened up a little. Sonic wanted to make sure he heard what Shadow said.

"What was that Shadow?" Sonic asked.

Shadow looked down to avoid Sonic's eyes, "Fine. If you really want to follow me around then go ahead."

"Yipee! Yes!" Sonic jumped high into the air, "don't worry Shadow you're not going to regret this decision, I promise!"

"I hope you're the type of hedgehog that keeps promises..."

"Hey~ this is Sonic the Hedgehog we're talking about here," Sonic pointed at himself.

"Yes of course, our favorite hero," Shadow said with sarcasm but also with a small smirk.

"Hehhehheh funny," Sonic laughed softly but his eyes instantly caught Shadow's gentle swaying motion. "You should really sit down. Even the ultimate life form needs a rest now and then especially without the limiters."

"There's no time for rest," Shadow refused but didn't push Sonic away when the blue hedgehog came to support him to stand straight, "We have to follow Mephiles, now."

"Okay Mr. Business," Sonic smiled, "but.. I think you need to pick up your ring at that costume store. If we knew Mephiles was here crashing the party, we would have never bought these silly clothes."

"If he doesn't give the rings back then maybe I can do it by force.." Shadow whispered and he unknowingly leaned more of his weight to Sonic.

"Or we can tell him the truth about why you need the ring perhaps?" Sonic suggested, "either ways, I'm pretty sure we can get it back no problem!"

Shadow looked around to see the portal that Mephiles left.

"Do you think that will stay open?" Sonic asked and it took a while for Shadow to reply.

"If I know Mephiles, that thing will be open until I enter. It could be a trap but... what can I do."

"Okay I guess we better get you ring and-"

"Stop!" Someone yelled and both Sonic and Shadow turned around.

"What the...?" Shadow opened his widely as he witnessed another hedgehog that looked had exact same features like Sonic, not to mention he dad the same voice as Sonic, but was wearing a helmet, some kind of weird uniform looking suit and had a handcuff in his right hand. This guy was the exact copy of Sonic the Dedgehog except had more serious looks because he had his eyes narrowed.

"You are under arrest for violating the rules of traveling through dimensions without a permit, Zhadow the wanted hedgehog," the cop looking hedgehog took off his helmet to reveal his blue quills. Now he really looked like Sonic just with a cop suit

"Zhadow?" Shadow questioned and backed away from this so called cop.

"Zonic wait!" Sonic stepped right between the two hedgehog "this isn't what it looks like!"

"Step away Sonic prime or I'll have to arrest you also for working with Zhadow. I expected better from-"

"He's not Zhadow, Zonic!" Sonic interrupted, "This is Shadow from my world and we're sorry for violating No Zone policy but we have really really really good reasons."

"You know him?" Shadow directed his attention to Sonic

"Sonic prime, if this is not Zhadow then... what's going on here," Zonic placed his helmet on the floor and came closer to Sonic, "you know it's illegal to travel to different zones. You can really rupture different zones."

"I can explain," Sonic weakly smiled, "but put away that handcuff first." Sonic pointed to the silver rings Zonic had in his hand.

"Alright, Sonic prime. You always have my full trust," Zonic closed his eyes and placed the handcuff into his pocket.

"Oh and by the way, long time no see, Zonic!" Sonic reached out and tried to start a hand shake with his other counterpart.

In No Zone, Zonic is known to smile very rarely unlike Sonic who flashes his smile at everyone he sees. But even Zonic couldn't help but to smile a little when he met Sonic the Hedgehog.

"Good to see you to, Sonic prime," Zonic shook, "and my apologies for mistaking you as Zhadow," Zonic bowed

Shadow didn't say anything but nodded his head in approval. Great... he was already tired and this new hedgehog who looked and sounded just like Sonic just had to jump in.

* * *

**A person who reads archie? (?) comic suggested me to use the label Sonic prime for Sonic so here you go~ **


	5. Is this the Beginning of Jealousy?

**Thank you so much for reviews as always kind readers!**

**Hope you guys enjoyed reading my replies to you too!**

* * *

It was a really long explanation. Very very long and boring explanation if you asked Shadow but he thought it was fair deal for this hedgehog who called himself as Zonic to know the situation that they are in right now. But of course, Sonic did all of the talking to Zonic while Shadow just stood there behind his rival. Shadow didn't know how long the time passed but he knew one thing... he was really getting tired and the pain from different parts of his body, not to mention the lack of his energy, became worse. In the beginning, Shadow listened to Sonic's story telling to Zonic about why they had to travel through different dimensions and why they were in this world in the first place. The black hedgehog began to lose his focus when Sonic drifted off to Mephiles and why Mephiles looks a lot like Shadow. Shadow's visions were not very focused at this point and he was worried that he could collapse in any second.

'There is no way I'm going to lose conscious while these two are here,' Shadow mentally hit himself to stay awake. If there was one thing Shadow hated was when he reveals his listless side to other people. Shadow had to admit, he did care a little about first impression and maintaining his image.

The black hedgehog shifted his attention from Sonic's mouth to Zonic who had his arms crossed just like how he was doing.

'Zone cop huh...' Shadow thought about how Zonic introduced himself eariler.

Zonic wore what seemed like a red suit which was the perfect fit to his body, There was a yellow belt that wrapped around his thin waist and he also had some kind of protection for his shoulders as well. Zonic's gloves were not white like what Sonic and Shadow were wearing. It was a dark purple and the material was rubber. The helmet that sat beside Zonic was green but there were no covering on the back of the helmet which was to make some rooms for his large blue quills. On the right side of Zonic's red suit, there was a yellow pocket for a weird shaped looking gun while on his left side, there was a smaller pocket, probably for handcuff that Zonic revealed earlier to Sonic and Shadow.

'He looks exactly like Sonic but with a uniform,' Shadow noted to himself, 'Not to mention he doesn't seem to have the hyperactive personality like this talking hedgehog.'

"I do see why you guys need to continue to travel through different dimensions," said Zonic and this brought back Shadow's attention for a brief moment,

"Yeah, but that's the problem. That portal Mephiles made looks like an obvious trap for us to follow and I don't really want to take a huge risk and all. But-" Sonic emphasized, "if Shadow and I have two chaos emerald then we could use chaos control to travel through different worlds easily," Sonic snapped his finger.

"And if you don't mind me asking Sonic prime," Zonic uncrossed his arms, "What is this chaos emerald that you keep mentioning about?"

"Wow that's another long story but I can keep it pretty short for you," Sonic laughed a little, "so basically there are seven of these emeralds that have what's known as chaos energy..."

Shadow was now at his limits. His ears failed to catch any hearings which frustrated the black hedgehog even more as he started to gently sway back and forth. Shadow touched his forehead with his hand, hoping that his visions would start to focus again but it was no use. He could feel every last bit of energy running out even with the purple chaos emerald in his hand.

'I need a short break...' Shadow took a deep breath, 'even with this emerald in my hand I'm not getting much of the chaos energy... I need to rest... now-'

Zonic, who observed Shadow awfully with his keen eyes while Sonic talked about these chaos emerald, noticed right away that something was wrong with Shadow.

"Sonic prime is your friend doing okay?" there was a hint of concern in Zonic's voice.

"I forgot! Shadow we should go and bring back your...Shadow!"

As soon as Sonic turned around, Shadow's eyes were already tightly closed as he fell forward. Before the unconscious hedgehog's body hit the cold castle floor, Zonic managed to catch him on time and narrowed his eyes to figure what made Shadow suddenly faint,

"What's wrong with him? I don't see any injuries," Zonic shook Shadow a little.

"I'm such an idiot!" Sonic stomped his feet and the sound echoed through out the empty building, "I'll explain later but right now we need to retrieve Shadow's power ring!"

"The... power rings?" Zonic raised one of his eye in confusion. He looked back at Shadow again but the only thing he saw was the reflection of his worst criminal Zhadow. Zonic was so used to with fighting and trying to catch Zhadow every time when he saw the black hedgehog freeing the inmates in his prison that when he saw Shadow peacefully in his arms, it was just so strange to him. Zonic didn't know why but this made him smile a little.

"Yeah he needs those! It's like they're his life line!" Sonic said with his urgent voice.

"Where are these power rings then?" Zonic's eyes were still on to Shadow until he saw something white flashing back and forth right in front of his face.

"Hello Zonic~" Sonic waved his hand in front of Zonic's eyes, "His rings are in this costume store that Shadow and I went to. We went through this trade system and... the point is we have to get it back without causing too much fussing if you know what I mean."

Zonic quickly wore his helmet and picked up fainted Shadow in a bridal style. Just then, Sonic didn't know why but he started to feel a little uncomfortable. All Zonic did was helping Shadow in his unconscious state but something The blue hedgehog unknowingly frowned a little as he realized that something stirred inside him and it was definitely not a positive emotion.

"I'll hold your friend, Sonic prime," Zonic said with his eyes covered behind the helmet, "Led the way. I think I can help you guys to get this... ring back."

"A-alright Zonic," Sonic still had a discomfort look on his face expression a little and it took a few seconds for him to regain his composure again. Sonic was so confused why he was getting this weird feeling all of the sudden. The blue hedgehog looked at Zonic and also Shadow who was safely in his arms.

'It's not like Zonic is doing anything bad to Shadow... why am I getting so worked up for-'

"Sonic prime," Zonic interrupted Sonic's thought.

"W-what is it, pal?" Sonic perked up his eyes and blinked a few times.

"Don't you dare go fast on me," Zonic rolled his eyes and gave a faint smile, "Even if we have the same characteristic you know that I don't have the same talent as you do."

"Don't worry~" Sonic chuckled and gave a thumbs up, "How could I forget the time when I first met you? You were in that Zone cop car! I was pretty surprised that you didn't chase down the criminal with your two feet."

"Very well, I'm glad you remember that little incident," said Zonic, "Let's hurry before something awful happens to your friend."

With that, Sonic decided to lead the way by jogging while he had Zonic following along right behind him.

"Shadow the hedgehog..." Zonic whispered, "If you're friends with Sonic then.I guess in your world, you're not as mean as someone I know," Zonic sighed.

Zonic could still remember the time when Zhadow suddenly had a change in his attitude and decided to quit the career as a zone cop. He and Zhadow had very similar traits in both physical ways and also for the personality. The two hedgehogs were very silent and didn't show a lot of smiles to other members of the zone cop but when they were alone, they talked a lot and laughed a couple of time. Well, it was mostly Zonic doing all the talk while Zhadow quietly listened but the black hedgehog enjoyed Zonic's company. When they were on missions to catch wanted criminals, Zonic and Zhadow were always the perfect partners. They could literally communicate just with their eyes which showed to other cop members how strong their bonds were. That is until Zhadow decided to take the road of the villain.

"Zhadow... you... I don't understand..." Zonic remembered when he was trying to persuade Zhadow to stay, "Did you not like it here? Did something happen between you and the zone cop head administer y?"

"It's not your business to know," Zhadow replied and threw his helmet harshly to the metal floor. The helmet rolled until it touched Zonic's green shoes.

"How.. how can you just say it like that?!" Zonic narrowed his eyes, "So all these time when I was spending my time with you those were just-"

"You were a good comrade, Zonic but don't take it too seriously, outside of our duty we are not friends."

"Zhadow.. why you...!"

"Hey Zonic!"

"...?"

"Zonic!" Sonic tapped Zonic, "We're here. This is the costume place. Hey are you alright? Don't tell me you got tired just from that small walking distance," Sonic tried to lighten up the mood.

"Sorry about spacing out on you," Zonic sighed, "Your friend just remind me of someone..."

"Zhadow, I'm guessing," said Sonic, "Relax, Shadow is not bad like how you described Zhadow. Now about the ring, I think they're are inside but the owner seems to be out from the store. He probably ran away when he heard some explosions from the castle, heheh."

"I'm assuming you don't want to break into his property, correct?" Zonic placed Shadow gently on to the grass.

"No way, he didn't do anything wrong!" Sonic eyed Shadow for any sign of pain before he continued, "So you have any idea how to get inside?"

Right when Sonic finished talking, Zonic the Zone Cop already had his gun looking device out and positioned it right in front of the window.

"Wait! Didn't you hear what I said!" Sonic jumped, "I don't want to break this-"

"I understood your words clearly, Sonic prime," Zonic closed one of his eyes and pressed on to the gun, "Just watch."

In an instant, there was a portal created right onto the window which was a doorway to the inside of the costume store. Zonic had a stoic face since he did this bunch of times while Sonic's eyes sparkled at amazement.

"Wow you can make portals without using chaos emeralds?!" Sonic said with excitement, "Your universe is awesome!"

"Yes well." Zonic glanced back at Shadow for few seconds, "Hurry and retrieve the power rings first, Sonic prime."

"Right! Be back in a flash!" said Sonic as he raced into the portal which lead him to the inside of the store.

"Judging by your speed, you should be back in a-"

"Ta-da~!" Sonic had two golden rings in each of his hand.

"Flash," Zonic smiled, "So, you you just have to put the rings on to him?"

"Yeah uh... I'll do it since I know where these things go..." Sonic walked over to Shadow and placed the power rings on both of his arms. "And I'll just put this emerald here," Sonic took out the purple emerald that Shadow dropped when he fainted from deep inside his quills and placed it next to Shadow.

"Hope your friend wakes up soon," Zonic sat down on the grass and took of his helmet again.

"He's Life form," Sonic made a quotation mark and after that pet Shadow gently knowing he would never have this opportunity again (not to mention Shadow would kill him he if find out that Sonic just did this), "He should be waking up shortly."

The blue hero also lied down with his back on to the soothing grass to stare at the light purple knight sky right. There was a breeze which caused the leaves in the trees to fall but it was not cold enough to bring Sonic to have chills. As the aroma in the air started to fill up with pumpkins, probably from the garden that was near the costume store, Sonic's quills finally relaxed and his body system started to engage Sonic to a sleeping mode. Sonic felt his eye lids getting heavier and heavier. He didn't really eat after breakfast technically and couldn't get a decent sleep since Amy bugged him lately about how they should spend every minutes together.

'A short nap couldn't hurt...' Sonic rewarded himself as he drifted off to the dream world.

How long was Sonic in his dream world?

"Hold still," Sonic heard Zonic's stern voice out of nowhere.

"I don't think y-you know what are you doing," Shadow winced a little.

'What are they talking about?' Sonic was curious but for some strange reason, he couldn't open his eyes. Was he still dreaming perhaps?

"I know exactly what I'm doing, Shadow the Hedgehog," said Zonic but with more softly this time.

"Then why does it hurt more than before?" Shadow gave out a quiet moan.

'Wait what?! What is Zonic doing to Shadow?' Sonic thought to himelf as his mind raced to search for a possible and reasonable answer, 'something sounds a little off...'

"This is because your are all tensed. You have to relax your muscles or this is just going to hurt even more," Zonic's voice sounded more like a command at this point.

"If I have harder time walking later you'll regret doing this on me," Shadow hissed to give a red flag to Zonic. Few moments later, Sonic heard Shadow's moan a little louder this time.

'Don't tell me they... he... Shadow and Zonic are...!' This was it. Sonic just had to wake up right now before something... something unthinkable happens!

"Shadow!' Sonic immediately stood up from the grass and his eyes were wide open. The emerald green eyes searched and found exactly what he was looking for. There was Shadow with a slightly irritated and pained look on his face expression sitting on the grass and Zonic was also right beside him.

"Zonic what are you...uh... doing...?" Sonic tilted his head.

"Your friend is trying to fix my leg," Shadow rolled his eyes while Zonic continued to what seemed like massaging Shadow's right leg.

"Shadow couldn't move his right leg correctly when he woke up," Zonic stated flatly as he pressed on of the joint that made Shadow tense a little

"Shadow I thought your leg was all better at this point?" Sonic just stood there but didn't enjoy the idea of Zonic being too close with Shadow.

"My leg wasn't completely healed. It was still in the processor recovering but when I start to lose some energy during the battle with Mephiles, I guess the recovering system shut down on me."

"His muscle in the right leg went through a slight paralysis but after this treatment, he should be able to walk soon enough," Zonic tapped Shadow's leg before standing up.

Shadow also stood up next to Zonic and tried moving his right leg muscle a few times. 'I'm actually impressed how he fixed me up so quickly...' Shadow thought to himself. 'The pain alleviated a little as well.'

"Thanks..." Shadow murmured and this caught Sonic's attention right away.

'Did.. Did Shadow just used a word that he never used before? In front of Zonic?! I helped him a bunch of times and he never thanked me! Not that I care but still!' Sonic fumed inside but of course, he had to act like it was no big deal.

"You seem a lot nicer than a certain inmate hedgehog that I know," Zonic smirked while he crossed his arms "Good to see that you don't have similar personality like him."

"So, now that he's all better and got his rings back, I guess we'll be off to collect those chaos emeralds then," Sonic rushed and stepped between where Shadow and Zonic was standing.

"But Sonic prime, I don't know how you're going to travel through different worlds. Don't you think you might need some assistance?" asked Zonic.

"Assistance? It's cool Zonic, we have things under control here. I'm sure Shadow and I can figure out a way eventually," Sonic waved his hands and hoped that Zonic would just return to his world. Sonic never really hated Zonic but just for now, he didn't want Zonic to be around any longer.

"By assistance do you mean you would help us travel through dimensions?" Shadow showed a slight interest. Sonic sighed a deep breath and Zonic looked at the blue hedgehog in confusion before replying.

"I am the Zone cop after all," Zonic took out the gun looking device again, "With this I can travel from zones to zones. If I can get sample of Mephiles' DNA I could probably track where he is, also. It's really not that big of a deal."

"Like it or not, he seems to have the tool that we need to make this mission a little easier," Shadow turned to Sonic.

Sonic looked down and thought for a second. It was pretty obvious that having Zonic around for a while until they collected two emerald to use massive chaos control would be a good idea. Sonic should be thankful that Zonic even offered this in the first place! The blue hedgehog looked at both Shadow and Zonic as they seemed to be having yet another conversation. Ever since Zonic came into the picture and kept talking to the black hedgehog, Sonic felt left out a little. Or maybe this was all in his head?

'Sure looks like Shadow is enjoying Zonic's company,' thought Sonic, 'Maybe... he just thinks Zonic is less... eh... annoying.'

"Sure," Sonic whispered but this caught both of the hedgehog's attention.

"Why so down Sonic prime?" Zonic gave a slight hint of worried expression on his face. It was not everyday that you see a hyperactive hedgehog in a melancholy mood.

"Tired already?" Shadow referred to Sonic and the hero couldn't tell if Shadow was just playing around with him or if Shadow was being serious.

"N-no, hehheh I guess I am a little tired than I thought," Sonic quickly smiled when he realized that the situation was beginning to get awkward. Sonic opened his mouth to speak again but closed them when Zonic made a hand gesture to speak.

"I understand that this mission is important but even you guys need to rest," Zonic placed his helmet back on and opened a portal using his device, "Why don't you guys stay at my headquarter until tomorrow? I can give my workloads to my subordinates while I give you guys some helping hands."

"I don't really need resting but I'm assuming he does," Shadow pointed at Sonic.

"Well sorry for not being an artificial hedgehog," Sonic rolled his eyes.

"You are also a result from a science experiment?" Zonic was a little surprised and when he saw Shadow nod he continued, "It's because Zhadow was also created by an unknown scientist who tried to produce an immortal being."

"That explains why you guys still couldn't capture him," Shadow smirked and felt t somewhat proud that his counter part from another dimension was not captured yet. Even though Zonic told him that his alternate version from another world is a villain, Shadow still wanted to meet this hedgehog in person to see how close their similarities are and perhaps test their abilities as well.

"Hey~~! Aren't you guys coming in or what?!" Sonic yelled and once he got both of the hedgehog's attention, Sonic jumped into the portal that Zonic created first without looking back.

"Shall we?" Zonic allowed Shadow to go in first before he entered.

(No Zone)

When Sonic and Shadow entered the new world, a place where Zonic the Zone cop lives, they had to admit everything looked really like a upgraded future. There were cars without wheels traveling in various directions (some directions did not seem normal to both hedgehogs). The buildings had all sorts of shapes such as triangles, pyramids and even circular looking shapes! The sky color was a light orange color with a lot of stars that were blue colors. both of the hedgehog also saw other zone cops with similar uniform with Zonic walking around and having conversations. Some of them waved a simple high to Zonic where the head zone cop replied with a simple nod.

"This is No Zone and if you didn't notice, the only people you see are the zone cop officers," Zonic explained as they walked inside a huge building, "I guess you can say this is a station where we keep the inmates, resting place for cops and keeping other dimensions monitored."

"Woah... this is pretty cool place if you ask me," Sonic whistled and kept his head high to observe all the strange looking buildings and the beautiful sky.

Shadow paced himself a little and managed to walk right next to Zonic, leaving Sonic behind him.

"If you don't mind me asking, why do you attach prime to his name?" Shadow referred to Sonic.

Shadow could only see reflection of himself through Zonic's helmet so he couldn't really see Zonic's face expression. The only thing that Shadow was able to see was Zonic's mouth and partially his nose.

"In other zones, there are others that look really similar to Sonic, including myself. But it turns out that we receive our similarities from Sonic... well the similarities only include the characteristics and not the personality."

"I can see the why..." Shadow trailed off. It would be such a pain if all the other Sonics from different worlds had the exact personality as the Faker. All of them would be running around and doing something stupid out of nowhere, in Shadow's opinion.

"We don't really know why this happens but it was concluded that our characteristics derived from the main source which is Sonic the Hedgehog. When I first met him, I wanted to acknowledge him that he was..well... special. I guess you can call him the original. So it became a habit of me calling him like that."

"Does he mind?" Shadow glanced back to see Sonic looking around like a small child who went into the amusement park for the first time. Sonic spun around once with his head focused to the tall building and this caused him to almost trip. Almost.

"I don't think so. He would have told me if it did."

"Interesting... I'm curious to see this Zhadow myself now that I met you," Shadow commented.

"You don't want to see him," Zonic's tone became even darker and Shadow could tell that even the mention of Zhadow pissed Zonic to some degree. Was his alternate hedgehog that horrible and created nothing but destruction?

"What is your relationship with Sonic?" Zonic changed the topic and this caught Shadow a little off guard.

"Why do you ask?" Shadow's face expression remained stoic.

"Well... " Zonic touched his gloves as a distraction and Shadow saw that Zonic was being a little uncomfortable, "Zhadow and I were... not always... like this."

"You mean you guys were not enemies?"

"Let's just keep this simple," Zonic was glad that his eyes were masked behind his helmet, "I'm just curious to know if you guys have any better relationship than we do."

Shadow had to let this question sink in to him before saying anything. He never had a time to actually analyze his relationship between him and the blue hedgehog. Sure they have some small fights and race once in a while not to mention Sonic seems to enjoy his company as. Compared to the first time when those two hedgehogs met, which was the ARK incident, they were able to put their enemy line aside and became more of a friendly rivals. Sonic kept calling Shadow his friend or a buddy and even though Shadow stated countless of time he is not in Sonic's so called friend list, Shadow also liked when Sonic, out of nowhere, came to visit him once in a while. Sonic changed his life a lot and made it rather interesting.

"He's just..." Shadow was never too good with his words or expressing his thoughts out loud, "another hedgehog that tags along with me where ever I go," Shadow shrugged. "There were some incidents where he just pops out of no where and helps me with my missions," Shadow thought about the Black Doom invasion, "and randomly decides to follow me to see what I'm up to," the flash back of Sonic facing his fear of water just to tag along flashed in his memory.

"I see, so are you guys close friends, perhaps?" Zonic kept pushing his question.

"Like I said, he is just another hedgehog that tags along with me where ever I go," Shadow repeated the exact same sentence again.

Sonic was too busy looking around this place called No Zone so he didn't really hear the whole talk between Shadow and Zonic but he regretted when he decided to pay attention in the last minute. Sonic heard the very last sentence that Shadow said to Zonic.

'Just another hedgehog huh...?' Sonic suddenly felt bad, 'am I that annoying for Shadow? I mean... he's getting along so well with Zonic. He even started the whole conversation with Zonic in the first place!'

Sonic's started to slow down his walking speed as he fell deeper into his thought, 'I thought Shadow just hates admitting that I am his friend but if he really thinks I'm just some another stranger tagging along with him then... maybe he really does hate my guts,' Sonic sighed. His mouth began to go dry and a huge wave of disappointment rushed through the blue hedgehog's head.

'I guess it sucks to realize how the person who you really think is important doesn't feel the same way,' Sonic smiled and tried to give himself a pat on the back. But he thought he did so many things to please Shadow, at least Shadow could acknowledge that! This situation was kind of similar with him and Amy. Even though Sonic told Amy that currently he doesn't feel the strong bond that Amy claims she feels towards him, the pink hedgehog said she will never give up and someday win his heart. Now Sonic appreciated the enthauasim that Amy continues to show and even though it sometimes stressed him out a little, he tried to treat Amy a little more special because she was working so hard to win his love someday. At least Sonic cares about Amy so what about Shadow? Sonic did so many things to help Shadow when he was clearly in need and tried to make Shadow's life a little less blue by asking him for a friendly race on in a while. But the black hedgehog just never seems to open up for him.

'He says thanks to Zonic but never to me...?' Sonic thought about the event that happened few moments ago. He knew that he was being a little childish and not like the Sonic that everyone knows but he couldn't help to get over with this- well you can call it a shock. Sonic's eyes dropped to the yellow cemented floor and his stomach felt strange. Why did Sonic care so much about Shadow recognizing him as someone important or even a simple friend in the first place?

'I need a run... or... at least away from them for a while.." Sonic told himself and stopped following Zonic and Shadow.

Zonic realized that he stopped hearing footsteps behind him and turned around.

"Sonic prime, aren't you coming?" Zonic had a hand motion to join him and Shadow.

Shadow just stood there but he noticed that something was definitely wrong with Sonic. The blue hedgehog looked like he just entered a huge swimming pool and had his energies drained out. Sonic's quills were more stropped down than usual and even his tails, usually curled upward, were flat down.

"I.. I just need a run to... to..." Sonic's emerald eye looked around to come up with an excuse, "to explore this place more!" Sonic chuckled, "You guys know how I am with running around and seeing new stuff. I'll be back before the sun goes down don't worry about it!"

'Why is his voice a little shaky? Sounds like he's nervous about something..?' Shadow noted himself.

"Go ahead Sonic prime," Zonic smiled and gave a small card with his name and number on it. "When you come into this building, just tell them that I sent you to my room. They should be able to escort you there."

"Thanks Zonic, always so organized and thinking ahead I see," Sonic continued to hold the fake smile on his face and took the card out of Zonic's hand gently, "Well then I'll be off then~~ See you~~"

And in a flash Sonic was gone in a speed of sound. Shadow blinked a few moment. It clearly looked more like Sonic was running away from them and not like he was going for a run.

"Actually I think I have to check on him as well," Shadow quickly told Zonic, "I don't want him to get lost or do anything stupid while he's here."

"I completely understand, Shadow," Zonic sighed but Shadow did have a good point, "You go ahead and take care of Sonic for a while but remember to come back before the sun goes down. At night we have new cops doing their training so I don't want you guys to get in trouble with them."

"Right," said Shadow and he followed the path that Sonic took few seconds ago.

"If only Zhadow was a little more like you..Shadow..." Zonic whispered and went inside the building.

Sonic managed to find a really high place in one of the building that looked-well-normal. It was the only rectangle shaped building that he was able to find but this had exactly 70 floors. Sonic didn't take the elevator but he he ran along the outside of the building in 90 degrees until he reached the top floor.

The blue hedgehog sat down on the edge of the building and thought about what Shadow said again and again.

"Maybe I should have let Shadow chaos control me back to my world so I can just meet up with Tails and Knuckles," said Sonic and stroked one of his large blue quill behind him. That was one habit that Sonic had which not a lot of people knew about. When he was feeling down or depressed, Sonic tends to reach into his back quills and ran along them with his hand. He had to be careful not to cut himself but it felt nice and soothing. This was one method that Sonic used to calm himself down.

"Why am I so... getting worked up with his...?" Sonic asked himself but he didn't expect a response behind him.

"Why are you getting so worked up?"

Sonic jumped and really he was only few inches away from falling off the building but he caught his balance just in time.

"S-Shadow?!" Sonic was really surprised and his perked up even more.

"What are you doing? You might fall if you stand that close to the edge," said Shadow and he came to pull Sonic back a little.

"I know... I just like doing dangerous stuff," Sonic chuckled but his eyes were nowhere near Shadow's presence.

"What's wrong? You seem a little strange ever since Zonic came."

"What do you mean?" Sonic released his hand from Shadow's grasp and turned his head around to he wouldn't be facing the black hedgehog.

"You are not acting like yourself."

'Wow... Shadow really doesn't go around the bush huh?' Sonic thought while he ran his hand through his quill one more time before answering.

"I'm just tired that's all."

"The hedgehog I know doesn't get tired too easily," said Shadow and he turned Sonic around. "Really, what's wrong? Are you hurt? Did something happen while I was out cold?"

Sonic blinked a couple of times and his face turned slightly red when he realized that both of Shadow's hands were tightly on his shoulder. This was actually the first time Shadow showed some type of worries towards him. Maybe Sonic was really acting too weird after all.

"Shadow I don't know what you're talking about," Sonic smiled and placed his hand on Shadow's arm, giving him a signal that the black hedgehog should really drop this subject. "Can't a hedgehog rest in peace once in a while? I'm not always that active you know~ But hey, thanks for asking!"

"You don't sound like yourself. Are you worried about your friends? If you want to return to them, I can still use chaos control you send you back, it's not a problem for me at all."

Then there was a silence and the question that Sonic really wanted to ask just came out of his mouth without the blue hedgehog even realizing it.

"D-do you want me to go back...?" Sonic asked.

"...what?"

"I mean... if you really think I'm just getting in your way and slowing you down hehheh... I could just go back to my world and stop being a nonsense."

This was the first time that Shadow was actually speechless after hearing what Sonic had to say.

'Is he... is he upset about how I described him to that zone cop?" Shadow frowned and at the same time hoped that that wasn't the case because it may not look like it, but Shadow didn't like if he was the cause of Sonic's sudden sadness.

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**Thank you for people who are keep feeding me with reviews. **

**It is really fun to read them and also I get to interact with you guys about this story haha XD**


	6. Shadow's Modified Chili Dog for Sonic!

**Hello here is another update! I am so glad that many of you guys found the last chapter cute! Thank you Sonic's slowly growing envy hehheh (I am so evil :3) Anyways I hope you will like this one too and hope that you guys for my replies for those who reviewed!**

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"I mean... if you really think I'm just getting in your way and slowing you down hehheh... I could just go back to my world and stop being a nonsense."

Shadow observed Sonic carefully to see if there were any hint of joke or other random things that Sonic usually say out of sympathy. The black hedgehog even waited for his rival so say something right after his serious sentence such as, "Ha! you thought I was just going to leave you alone, buddy?" or "Being hero is just what I do best." Not even a single word came out from Sonic's mouth who also stared at Shadow in confusion as well.

'Is Shadow thinking about the decision?' Sonic touched one of his gloved finger as a distraction to avoid Shadow's glare to him. The blue hedgehog started to regret bringing out this topic as he waited for Shadow to speak, yell or just do anything to bring an end to this silence.

Shadow also thought for a moment and wondered why Sonic didn't say anything after his ridiculous comment. Shadow certainly did not believe that Sonic was slowing him down or anything like that and he was definitely not being a nonsense. Sure, it was a little pain to drag along a optimistic hedgehog with you during the mission but Sonic did helped out along the way so far. When Sonic didn't add on to his comment to Shadow, aside from tracing his fingertips back and forth, Shadow decided to break the silence.

"I'm not your parent," he started, "So don't expect to make decisions for you. If you want to stay with me then go ahead but if you want to go back to your world then that's also fine."

"But what do you want?" Sonic tried to emphasized the_ "you"_ part.

"I don't have control over your life," replied Shadow and he gave out a deep sigh filled with concern, "What's wrong with you? Usually you're the type of hedgehog that just goes with the flow," said Shadow. It was strange for him to see Sonic acting so awkward even though they were not close friends.

"I mean... you always say how you can do things on your own and every time when I try to come along you seem to...well... not really enjoy it."

Shadow then blanked a couple of times before he started to process the information of what Sonic had just said to him. Sonic thought he didn't enjoy Sonic's company? Shadow thought about the times when Sonic tried to tag along with him. The black hedgehog did always let out a deep sigh and he did throw some pretty bad insults to Sonic telling him to go away and not to follow him. Sonic always did end up tagging along with Shadow in most cases though.

'I do give out an impression that I don't want him around," Shadow frowned a little. Shadow focused his attention to Sonic again one last time to check for any sign of pranks. Of course, there was none.

"So if you really don't want me bugging your business," Sonic brought back Shadow's attention and this time the black hedgehog could see a weak smirk on Sonic's face, probably trying to lighten up their conversation. "Just tell me to leave and I will leave you alone, for real this time."

Shadow may say a lot of not-so-kind words to Sonic, stating that he will only cause more problems to this business or saying that Shadow does not need anyone's help but it was more of a habit than a truth. Shadow did some what respected Sonic's presence and sometimes Sonic did do a lot of helping to Shadow even though the ultimate life form never admitted. Not to mention he never thanked properly to Sonic even once.

'I guess I took Sonic's presence for granted...' Shadow trailed off. But there was no way he would say that so Sonic. He was never too open with his expressions not even to Rouge or Omega. So Shadow definitely did not want to start off this trend with Sonic.

"Look, I am not about to make my decision for you and I really care less if you left at this moment. This better not have anything to do with you going back on your silly promises for helping me deal with Mephiles," Shadow thought about what happened in the river incident where Sonic confronted his fear just for the sake of knowing the black hedgehog's situation and making promise to help him as much as possible.

"It has nothing to do with going back on my-"

"Then what's keeping you from making a simple decision of staying or not?!" Shadow finally lost his temper at last, "You are acting like a child, making this issue unnecessarily big to cause more stress on both of us!" Shadow took a step forward to meet with Sonic's emerald eyes, "I'll ask again. Why are you making this more complicated?"

"Y-you know what? I... uh... had a..." Sonic tried not to stutter to cause any suspicion to Shadow, "I had a... fight with-with Knuckles!" Sonic blurted out. 'Ah crap Knuckles is going to kill me for using his name!'

"And that's the reason why you're thinking if you should go back or not?" Shadow said in disbelief.

"You met Knuckles, Shadow," Shadow shrugged, "I'm assuming you also know his temper problem when he gets pissed off. Kind of like you!" Sonic pointed at Shadow playfully.

"..." Shadow twitched his ear in annoyance but didn't say anything which allowed Sonic to continue.

"Well okay, maybe not exactly like you," Sonic quickly changed the subject when he realized Shadow didn't laugh or even smiled at all, "The point is I don't really want to deal with Knuckles anger issue right now."

"But you do want to meet up with your other friend," Shadow commented.

"Tails? Of course! He's like my little bro!" Sonic was excited to talk about Tails.

"And your final decision is..." Shadow pushed the conversation a little further.

"Well... to deal with Knuckles's anger management or to Tails," Sonic pretended to think but this was not the problem that was bothering him. 'Great, now I just lied to Shadow that I have a problem with my close friend," Sonic cursed to himself.

"And you wanted me to decide if you should go back or not...?" Shadow thought this whole story that Sonic said didn't add up together. If Sonic had problem with Knuckles and was scared of facing him or not then that was Sonic's problem not Shadow's choice to make. It was certainly not the black hedgehog's business what so ever.

"Well I guess I'm more indecisive then I thought!" Sonic laughed but it still left Shadow in the silence.

'I'm not buying it. Something is bothering him but he's just not telling me straight," Shadow thought to himself.

'There is no way I'm going to tell Shadow what's really going on in my head,' Sonic rolled his eyes while Shadow's head was turned, 'Wait... What is really going on in my head...?'

Sonic thought about why this whole conversation started in the first place. He asked Shadow if he should stay with him or leave him alone but why did Sonic ask that to his rival? The blue hedgehog back tracked his mind a little and in a instant Zonic's face, the alternative version of him, flashed into his mind.

'Oh yeah I got a little uncomfortable with Zonic and Shadow talking about... about me... how Shadow doesn't really think I'm important or... something like that,' Sonic tried to brush it off. He really tried but his heart sank again and whole bunch of confusion thoughts and feelings bothered him once more. It also annoyed Sonic since he is not the type that would be too carried away in stupid subjects.

'So what if Shadow doesn't think I'm that important, Sonic?' the blue hedgehog reasoned with himself, 'he's just your rival whom you... uh.. care extra more about.. I guess. What the hell is wrong with me?!'

Shadow on the other hand looked at the sky and realized that the sun started to go down a lot faster than before.

"The Zone cop said we need to get back before it gets dark," said Shadow.

"Yeah, yeah," Sonic replied nonchalantly, "You go ahead, Shadow. I'll be right behind you," Sonic winked.

"You are coming with me right now," Shadow grabbed Sonic's wrist a little hard to make sure the hero didn't run away.

"H-hey...!" Sonic shy-ed away a little and before he even had the time to pull away, Shadow jumped off from the tall building and landed on the another building's roof. The black hedgehog landed perfectly on his feet while leaving Sonic landing on flat on his butt.

"Warn me if you're going to take a dive!" Sonic fumed and rubbed his tail a little to alleviate the sore.

"I'm going to dive, land on that tree, take another dive, land on the street and skate until we reach our destination," Shadow said with a monotone.

"That's more like it," Sonic laughed and they both headed where Zonic was waiting for them. But deep inside, Sonic was still distressed about his current situation that he was in. Even Sonic didn't know why he was acting so strange towards Shadow and Zonic.

'It's like... I just don't want to see them together,' Sonic grumbled to himself as he started to increase his speed to cut in front of Shadow. Shadow was about to boost his speed to catch up to Sonic but decided to let the blue hedgehog win this little race. Shadow reflected what just happened between him and Sonic at the roof top.

'I can't believe I'm feeling a slight sympathy for that guy,' thought Shadow. He slowed down his skating when he saw Sonic greeting the guard with his usual flashing smile and optimistic tone in his words. From the looks of it, Shadow could tell that the supposed guard dozed off a little in his duty because of the sleepy eye lids and not to mention the constant yawning that the guard needed to do in order to keep him self awake.

"Yes how can I help you two- B-boss! What are you doing with that.. that criminal!" the sleepy rhino, who also happened to be the guard, pointed his long sward to Shadow.

"Watch where you're going that," Shadow hissed under his breath. Even though the rhino was a lot taller and larger in body mass, Shadow could still see the guard shaking through his red eyes.

"Shadow chill!" Sonic patted Shadow's back and took out the card that Zonic gave from the inside of his white hand glove. Without saying another word, the blue hedgehog handed the guard a small guard with Zonic's signature on it.

"My buddy is inside. His name is Zonic if that rings any bell," Sonic smiled and waited while Shadow just crossed his arm.

"I see, you are Sonic prime then! The one that our boss talks about it so much. I am guessing this is not the wanted criminal then?" the guard carefully looked at Shadow once more.

"This is my friend, Shadow and don't worry, he's a lot nicer than you think," said Sonic.

"One word of advice," Shadow interrupted in a slight pissed off tone as he swiftly grabbed the sword which the guard continued to point at him. The ultimate life form then re-positioned the large sword directly at the rhino's neck and the guard even shook more in sudden situation.

"Shadow!" Sonic snapped but the black hedgehog didn't pay attention to his blue rival.

"Guards are supposed to use their weapon as a protection, not as a threat," Shadow murmured but the rhino heard him very clearly. He nodded back and forth again and again.

"Get a better weapon by the way," said Shadow and he returned the large sword back to the frightened guard who received it rather clumsily.

When the door opened, both of the hedgehogs went inside to look for their friend, Zonic. Luckily, the moment when Sonic and Shadow entered, they were greeted by another zone cop who told them that he can escort them to Zonic's private room.

"Hello Sonic prime, I'm assuming the run that you needed went well?" said Zonic who sat in one of the larger chair that had a lot of computers displayed in the front. The computers seemed to show different worlds and dimensions that can only be traveled by either a zone cop or through a chaos control.

"It was just great I guess," Sonic rubbed his nose and came right next to Zonic.

"Did you guys have a hard time coming in?" Zonic asked again.

"Hmph," Shadow sighed and Sonic took this as signal that Shadow did not plan to explain the whole story.

"I guess not too bad, expect Shadow got mistaken as Zhadow, again," Sonic smirked as he sat down on the desk.

"I apologize for that Shadow. I did make an announcement in this whole building that Sonic prime and his friend, Shadow, who is also an alternative form of Zhadow, would be visiting today."

"Did you mention that Shadow's not going to do any harm?" asked Sonic.

"Of course. I don't want Shadow to have any trouble while he is resting here for a day. Anyways," Zonic finished typing on the computer and turned his chair around to face Shadow, "the dining hall is open. You guys are free to go and grab some food or drinks and come back to this room."

"I guess it doesn't hurt to look around this place a little," said Shadow and slowly walked toward the exit. Shadow expected Sonic to join but the blue hedgehog didn't even move a muscle from the desk that he sat on few seconds ago.

"I will escort you, Shadow. This place can get a bit complicated if you don't have a proper direction with you at all times," said Zonic and he took off his zone cop uniform to wear something more casual. The helmet was placed on to the floor and Zonic went into the changing room. Instantly, the zone cop came out with a black pants and a long red jacket that almost covered his two blue legs.

"It's troublesome to wear these uniform if you ask me," Zonic grumbled, "We are required to represent the Zone Cop Community through these clothing symbols."

"The guard in the entrance referred him as boss," Shadow glanced at Sonic.

"Ah yes. Well you can't blame him, Sonic prime and I are the exact look alike expect for the fact that I am required to wear uniform under the No Zone policy. Even this casual clothe is supposed to represent my authority," Zonic gave a deep sigh.

"Hey, aren't you coming?" Shadow tapped Sonic.

"Hm? Oh yeah, you guys go ahead and have a little chat. I need to stay and think about something," said Sonic.

"If this has anything to do with you being indecisive-"

"No way Shadow~" Sonic waved his hands in the arm in defeat, "I'm easy going remember? I'll think about that later. I just need to take care of something personal but don't worry, if I get lost in this place I'll shout or do something."

"People shouldn't mistaken you as me, Sonic prime," Zonic reassured and stepped outside, waiting for Shadow to tag along.

"Are you sure you want to mope around in his office?" Shadow raised his tone but it had no affect on the blue hedgehog.

"Aww are you missing me already, Shadow?" Sonic teased and this instantly caused Shadow to turn his head around toward the exit.

"Save your breath," Shadow countered and closed the door behind him.

"Have fun with Zonic, Shadow..." Sonic said weakly as he stood up from the desk and jumped onto Zonic's large bed that was right next to him.

'I'm sure Zonic wouldn't mind if I did this,' thought Sonic. He then bounced couple of times on Zonic's bed to bring up his gloomy mood. It helped just a little but did not satisfy up to Sonic's expectation.

'I need to know the source of my... weird... problem...' Sonic's ears fold back and tried to focus his attention away from the relaxing position he was in. The moment when the door closed, the darkness accumulated in the room and the talking noises started to faint away. Sonic moved around in the bed a couple of times just to keep himself awake with a huge frustration in his face.

The cafeteria was more like a nice clean restaurant in a buffet style where zone cops and visitors were free to choose whatever they please to eat. Shadow looked around and noticed that some of the zone cops gave him the cryptic look, probably because Shadow resembled the wanted criminal, Zhadow. Before going to check out the type of food that the No Zone served, Shadow spotted a large poster with a black hedgehog that looked perfectly like him.

"Zhadow the banned zone cop?" Shadow said out loud and went closer to the poster to observe. The picture on the poster looked exactly like Shadow. The only difference would be that this hedgehog called Zhadow wore the zone cop uniform just like the Zonic and the others. Zhadow's helmet was held on his right hand while his left hand held a small metal cuff that was probably used to arrest people who traveled illegally into different dimensions.

'So this Zhadow was a zone cop as well?' Shadow touched the picture but he tensed a little when he heard someone approaching from behind.

"He sure looks like you doesn't he?" Zonic's tone was darker than usual but the officer still tried to keep his composure.

"If he was a zone cop then I assumed he teamed up with you once in a while?" Shadow questioned and turned to Zonic.

"Not once in a while. Always. Zhadow and I were in the top position of our team where we monitored and planned out methods to catch criminals here and there."

"How was Zhadow?" Shadow tried to keep his questions vague and open.

"Well he's certainly a lot like you except he took the wrong road. Zhadow is pretty serious, not very a talkative hedgehog so I did much of the talking when we were together."

"You don't seem to talk a lot compared to someone I know," Shadow thought about Sonic.

"Well Zhadow was a lot more quiet than I was," Zonic smiled a little but it quickly away. "There was a time where he told me that he's not like a normal life being. He said he doesn't need to eat regularly like the rest of us and he also had some kind of powers that I would not understand. But I'm assuming you don't need to eat as well?" Zonic quickly changed the subject and Shadow decided to go along with Zonic.

"Food is not really my top priority to live. I'm just going to look around to see if the food you guys eat is any different from what I observed from my world."

"What about Sonic? Is he coming to eat at all?" Zonic looked around to search for Sonic.

"Don't bother. He said he needs to take care of something with his friends back in our world."

"Right. Well feel free to look around before I come back to check on you and Sonic," Zonic smiled and left the cafeteria right away.

"You must make our boss pretty happy," one of the zone cop tapped Shadow's shoulder.

"What do you mean?" asked Shadow while he tried to figure out how the cop might look like behind his helmet but Shadow only saw his own reflection.

"Our boss rarely smiles," said the unknown cop, "The only times when he smile is when we do our jobs just the way he wanted or when he was with Zhadow. Too bad Zhadow is not good like yourself."

"Hmm.. thanks for the information," said Shadow and turned his attention back to the buffet area.

'I'm pretty sure that guy needs to eat even a little,' Shadow thought about what could be bothering Sonic so much that the blue hedgehog refused to come out and eat. The food actually looked normal to Shadow's surprise. There were pizza with different types of toppings, soup, various pasta related meal, sandwiches, potatoes, stakes and numerous amount of desserts.

'Maybe I should call him out...' thought Shadow but based on that awkward situation that Sonic and Shadow went though before they arrived into this building, he wouldn't be surprised if Sonic avoided him.

Shadow took out the plate from the far left and scanned his eye to fine two loaf of bread that was used for making sandwiches. He took two pieces and placed the on to his place. He then went to the section where there were chiefs cooking stakes, hamburger patties and a black blob that even Shadow didn't know what it was.

"Excuse me," Shadow caught one of the chief's attention.

"Z-Zhadow..?!" the chief gave a horrified look but the guy next to him smacked the chief on the neck gently.

"Didn't you hear the announcement?! That's Shadow you idiot!," said the blue peacock, "He is Zonic's guest from another world. You know, from Sonic prime's world?"

"Oooohhhhh my apologies ," the purple bird who seemed to be the head chief quickly bowed, "I didn't know you were the guest of our beloved boss."

"It's alright. We do look alike after all," Shadow shook his head a little. "Can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure! sure! What would you like to have?"

"This is not for me but for somebody else," Shadow felt a slight embarrassment as he continued, "I want you to mash this meat and mix it with... do you have anything chili related?"

"Sorry sir, but the freshly picked chili are very rare to find in this time of the season," said the head chief, "But we do have a spicy chili sauce if that can satisfy your order."

Shadow smirked. He just hoped hat Sonic didn't mind a little spice to his small meal.

"Use that, it will be fine."

'Does he like spicy food in the first place?" Shadow wondered and pictured the blue hedgehog eating anything that is spicy.

"Don't use too much of that," Shadow pointed to the chili sauce, "Add cheese when you are done mixing them together and finally," Shadow handed the plate with the two loaf of bread, "add the final product here."

"So it will be like a sandwich, sir?"

"More like a revised chili do I guess," said Shadow, who still couldn't believe the fact that he was planning to do something "nice" for a change to Sonic but it's not like the blue hedgehog didn't deserve it, right?

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**Please review you guys!**

**Maybe I should add Zhadow in the next chapter as little entrance! haha XD**


	7. Sonic's Stolen First Kiss

**Thank you everyone for lovely review and had fun reading my replies to you guys as well!**

**So many people asked me this. Yes Zhadow will be here 0_0 One of the readers suggested me to use this title hehheh**

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Sonic was still in Zonic's bed, wondering if he should stop being lazy and get some dinner for himself. He felt a small hunger from his stomach but Sonic was just not in the mood for eating.

'I bet they serve some pretty weird stuff in this world,' Sonic thought as he sat up from the bed. He had nothing better to do during his spare time so Sonic decided to have a small adventure around Zonic's so called office. The blue hedgehog gently got off from the bed while his emerald eyes were glued to the huge computer screens that showed different zones.

'I wonder if being a zone cop is exciting like my life?' It was then when one of the screen captured Sonic's attention right away. It was the screen with Sonic's world. There were people laughing in the park and the sky was a beautiful day with no clouds in the air. Even before Sonic knew it, the smile slowly appeared as he thought about leaving his whole mess that was related to Zonic and Shadow and simply return home.

"Cream!" Sonic's eyes opened widely in joy as he saw Cream and her little Chao walking along the park. The small bunny talked to someone who was cut off in the moniotor screen. A few seconds later, the pink hedgehog appeared right next to Cream holding bunch of shopping bags.

"Hey, Amy is there too!" Sonic was excited to see some familiar faces. It was a huge relief to Sonic that nothing bad happened to his other friends so far aside from Tailes and Knuckles. Sonic frowned a little when he realized that he couldn't hear any conversation between Cream and Amy since the volume was no where to be found near the computer screen. He can see that Amy is pretty pissed up with something and there were only two guesses that Sonic can make. One was that there were no sales in the mall today. Second, she's mad about Sonic leaving her to go to another adventure. Yup... probably the second one.

"Well... at least Amy cares about me even though I forget her once in a while..." Sonic said to himself. "Unlike the the other hedgehog I know," Sonic rolled his eyes and tried to get the image of Shadow away from his mind as he turned around to explore Zonic's stuff.

'Oh wait, I better contact Knuckles first,' thought Sonic. He turned on the communicator device and called out for his friend. It only took few seconds before Knuckles picked up the signal.

"Hey Knuckles, how is Tail's doing?" Sonic asked a little desperately.

"Care to say hi to your friend first next time?" Knuckles pretended to sound mad but Sonic knew that he was kidding around.

"Hello there Knuckles!" Sonic laughed a little, "Now can I know how Tail's is doing?"

"Sure, he's doing just fine. The doctor said I can probably bring him home tomorrow it is really no big deal. So can you come back to this world now? I heard from Tails that you volunteered to help out Shadow but really, that guy can take care of himself if you ask me."

"I know but... I'm not too sure about that Knuckles," said Sonic as he scratch his back quills, "I just don't want to leave Shadow all by himself you know?"

"So you're having a soft spot on him?" teased Knuckles and his instantly caught Sonic off guard.

"What?! No way! I think it's fair that since he helped us out a couple of times, I can help him in his time of need, that's all."

"But you know Shadow is the ultimate life form," Knuckles reminded him, "Don't you think he can really deal with his issues on his own? You have friends waiting for you to come back Sonic. What if you get into trouble?"

"Don't I always get myself into something, Knuckles?" Sonic smirked.

"That's why Amy is always worried about you!" Knuckles screamed and he could hear Tails in the background telling him to calm down.

"Amy should know that I don't leave my friends behind and that includes Shadow."

"I know that you care about Shadow more than the rest of us but is it worth it?"

"What do you mean is it worth it?" Sonic asked although he didn't like where this subject was heading.

"I mean, when you help other people, they instantly become your friends or they at least acknowledge your helping service but Shadow... that guy only thinks about himself and his well being," snapped Knuckles.

"Hey let's not get all mean on Shadow," said Sonic, "I'm pretty sure he thanks me from the inside."

"The point is, is helping Shadow worth risking your time and energy? Tails told me that Shadow's business involves Mephiles and I don't know if you want to go through another episode handling him."

"I think it's worth it," Sonic said right away without needing the time to think, "I mean... I want to be there for Shadow just in case he does really need a help. Look Knuckles, I'll call you back okay?"

"Ha.. fine Sonic. You better make a smart decision if you know what's good for you."

Sonic turned off the transmission and looked at the ceiling to process everything that happened between him and Knuckles. Of course, Shadow's well being was very important to Sonic for strange reason but if Shadow didn't want his presence then Sonic didn't want to annoy or upset the black hedgehog as well. Even if Shadow agreed that Sonic could tag along with him in the beginning, Sonic started to think that he almost forced Shadow to say yes in the first place. So Sonic thought about leaving Shadow to his own mission when Shadow told him to leave loud and clear but Sonic failed to receive Shadow's solid answer when they were at the roof top.

_Little did Sonic know that Shadow was on the outside hallway who heard all the conversation that happened with Knuckles._

'It doesn't look like he was in a huge fight with his friend,' Shadow frowned and tried to reason why Sonic would lie to him from the beginning.

'Does he just want to stay... for my sake?' Shadow recalled what Sonic said when Knuckles asked him if it was worth helping out Shadow. Sonic immediately replied that it was worth it and he even sounded like he strongly wanted to stay and help out Shadow in any way possible.

'Maybe that's why he was asking for my approval' tapped is rocket shoes, 'Maybe he planned to leave if I told him to go...'

Then Shadow finally stopped tapping his jet shoes gently as something crossed his mind.

'Maybe he does really think of me as a...uh... close friend even if I keep denying it... but why? I didn't do any favor or anything nice to him so why does he care?'

Shadow was about to enter the room. He then stopped and wanted to wait a little outside just to make sure Sonic didn't suspect that he heard the whole conversation because now Shadow definitely knows that Sonic was lying to him about getting into fights with Knuckles.

'I'll figure out a way to see if Shadow really wants me hanging out with him or not...' thought Sonic. The hero wanted to take his attention off from the irritating situation his mind was in so he decided to look around some Zonic's stuff. Sonic first went to one of the large book shelf and went through the note papers and books quickly until he found one title that had his interest.

The title was simply, Zhadow.

'Huh, is this like some kind of profile?'

The curious hedgehog looked back to the door to make sure that Zonic didn't suddenly barged into the room before taking out the small book that seemed more like a journal.

Sonic expected some type of data analysis about Zhadow or any type of records about numerous destruction Zhadow might have caused but there were no words. There were no numbers either. The only thing that filled up the journal looking book were pictures. A lot of pictures of Zonic, his interns and Zhadow.

Sonic tilted his head in confusion as he flipped through the book to see more pictures of Zhadow and Zonic together in many different scenes and not all of them had to do with serious work stuff. Some of the pictures had them simply sitting on grass or high places in buildings to rest. There was one rare picture where Zhadow had his arm around Zonic's shoulder with a barely noticable smile while Zonic had his arms crossed.

"Zhadow was a zone cop?!" Sonic unknowingly said it out loud.

"What are you doing? Going through his personal stuff?"

"Gyah! Oh h-hey Shadow," Sonic waved his hands in rather awkward position. He quickly closed Zonic's book and placed it back to the book shelf.

"I thought you said you had some personal things to take care off," Shadow shook his head a little, "I don't think that include his personal stuff as well."

"Hey~ hey~ we practically look alike," Sonic finally regained his cool as he sat down on the chair right in front of computer screens. Sonic also took off the transmission device from his wrist and place it on to the table. "He gets to look into my life and I get to look into his life, right?"

"Right, sounds very fair," Shadow said with an obvious sarcasm.

"See for yourself. Zonic also has our world monitored too!" Sonic pointed to the screen with the park image. Shadow noticed Amy and Cream right away and turned his attention back to Sonic.

"Do you miss them?" Shadow said it straight forward.

"Amy and Cream? Of course! They're my best friends," Sonic chirped and smiled at two girls who decided to have a nice lunch in the back. This at the same time made the blue hedgehog a little hungry than before.

"Is your girlfriend worried about where you are at this moment right now?"

"Call Amy my girl friend one more time and I'll tell Knuckles that Rouge is taken someone if you get my drift," Sonic warned Shadow with a grin on his face.

"Like you would. You told me you and Knuckles are in a bad situation right now," said Shadow but he didn't want to get into that same conversation that they had in the roof top so he quickly handed Sonic the plate with the food he ordered.

Sonic blinked a couple of times and stared at the food... and back to Shadow... stared at the food more... and back to Shadow, again. Did his rival just offered him to eat something? Sonic thought the situation that he was in just couldn't get any more weird as he let out a chuckle.

"What's this Shadow? Don't get me wrong, I'm not laughing at you buddy but I never thought I would receive anything from you in my life time," said Sonic as he took the plate from the Shadow.

"..." Shadow didn't really have much to say as he sat down on Zonic's bed.

"No seriously, what is this though," Sonic pointed at the food that seemed to resemble a lot like a sandwich.

"They don't have chili dog so I tried to get something similar," Shadow said it really fast as if he didn't want to explain the full detail of why he decided to get Sonic his dinner in the first place. To be honest, Shadow didn't know what caused him to do a small favor for Sonic from the beginning. Was he slightly worried about him?

"O-oh.. I see," Sonic instantly stopped laughing and stared at the food.

"...Are you disappointed?" Shadow carefully asked and Sonic's ears perked up right away as he waved his hand in a disagreement.

"No! no! It's not that, Shadow. It's just... how did you know my favorite food was chili dog in the first place?" Sonic observed what was inside the bread and Shadow was right, it did smelled like a chili dog just served in sandwich breads.

"You 21 birthday party," Shadow reminded Sonic. Shadow was actually invited to participate in creating Sonic's 21 birthday surprise party but he was busy dealing with that he decided to simply ignore it. But after the whole incident with Sonic and so called Classic Sonic saving the world, Shadow was warped back to Sonic's birthday party. It was then when he realized that Sonic was holding a chili dog that was wrapped in a gift paper.

"My... Oh yeah! You saw the gift that Tails gave to me?" Sonic thought about the chili dog that Tails made.

"It's not everyday that people give chili dog wrapped in gift package as a present."

"Wow Shadow... what can I say? I'm touched," Sonic smiled and unknowingly his blue tail wagged gently in happiness.

"Stop kidding around," Shadow looked away from Sonic but the blue hedgehog sat down on the bed and continued.

"No really! I'm really happy considering it's rare to get anything from you. So thanks," Sonic quickly patted Shadow's back, hoping that his rival wouldn't get mad or kill him during the process. Shadow didn't move at all but he didn't seemed to be bothered by Sonic's touch as well.

"Do you want half?" Sonic offered as he tried to cut the sandwich without spilling all the meat on the plate.

"It's alright. You can have everything."

"Not hungry?" Sonic asked again before he was about to take a bite. Shadow nodded and the blue hedgehog took a bite out of the sandwich. As Sonic chewed quietly, which surprised Shadow a little since he thought that Sonic was a messy eater, he was also curious to know if Sonic liked the food or not.

"If it taste horrible than you don't have to eat it," Shadow quickly reminded Sonic. The blue hedgehog continued to chew and swallowed. After a few seconds of silence, Sonic opened his mouth to take another huge bite.

"Hey!" Shadow snapped and Sonic froze with the chili meat sandwich on his hands.

"W-what?" Sonic could feel that his quills slightly went up from Shadow's surprising voice.

"I said if it doesn't taste good then-"

"Yeah yeah. Shadow I have ears like you, remember?" Sonic purposely twitched his ears to show some movement, "I heard you the first time." Sonic was about to take the second bite but Shadow just had to interrupt one more time.

"And you're still going to eat?"

"Well if it taste good then that's my option, right?"

"...fine then."

Sonic took the second bite and chewed some more. Sonic didn't know if it was his hunger that triggered the sandwich to taste delicious, or if it was the ingredient themselves or if it was the fact that Shadow was the one that brought up the food in the first place. Which every the case might be, Sonic didn't really care at the moment because his meat sandwich that tasted very similar to chili dog tasted amazing as his mouth watered some more when ever he took a bite. When Sonic finished swallowing from the his second bite, he looked at Shadow.

"You thought this was going to taste bad?" Sonic pointed at the sandwich.

"I just thought it wouldn't suit your taste," Shadow murmured.

"Well, if you want my answer than you did a great job! It's not too spicy and this is like a new way of eating," Sonic laughed a little before he took another bite.

Shadow had his back slightly turned from Sonic but he could see the joy in his rival's face as he continued to eat some more. Shadow smiled a little, knowing that Sonic was really satisfied with his meal.

Th black hedgehog had the urge to ask why Sonic lied to him in the first place about getting into fight with Knuckles. Okay forget about lying since everyone lies once in a while but why did Sonic made this issue so serious from the beginning He never thought he would see the day when his rival looked so upset and listless back from the roof top.

'Is it possible that he overheard what I say to the zone cop about him?' Shadow retraced back when Sonic wa behind him while he and Zonic talked about various things which included Sonic. It was then when Shadow realized the timing when Sonic decided to have his little run.

'He left right after I said about him being an annoying hedgehog that tags along...'

The image of Sonic running away from him and Zonic flashed into the black hedgehog.

'No way,' Shadow thought. 'There is no way that ignorant blue hedgehog will get offended by words... can he?'

If Shadow's guess was correct then he would see Sonic in a whole new perspective. He only sees Sonic's active side most of the time and plus, Sonic himself makes some light hear-ted insults to his enemies and friends once in a while. Most people would think that Sonic would care less if he receives some negative comments few times in his life since he seems to have a fairly chill personality.

'I guess it's better to see him like that instead of getting all depressed- wait I need to sort out something with him,' thought Shadow as he opened his mouth to speak,

"You can stay and help me until you feel like you need to return," said Shadow. 'But I want to know why you lied and made it such a big of getting my permission,' the question came to Shadow but he told himself to keep that part of the curiosity to himself.

At the same time, Sonic just finished eating the last bit of sandwich and he pretended to not really care about Shadow's sentence but the black hedgehog could tell that Sonic was paying very close attenton to his voice because of the position that the blue ears were facing.

"Uh.. come again?" asked Sonic as he licked off some of the sauce from his fingers one by one.

"I mean," Shadow rolled his eyes, "I want you to stay here and assist me but don't feel pressured to leave if you want to return home."

"You... really mean it?" Sonic carefully spoke, not sure what he should say.

"That's what you wanted from me right? You asked me what I wanted and there is my answer, although I don't understand why you wanted my answer. Normally you just do what you want to do without asking me."

"Yeah well-"

"Actually, you never asked me if you can tag along with me from my previous memories," Shadow reflected to few incidents where he was forced to work together with Sonic, "So why start now?"

Sonic quickly got off from the bed and turned his head in the exact opposite direction from Shadow. The hero didn't want to show the frowning look to Shadow but he managed to keep his regular happy tone when he replied.

"You know, I guess once in a while I just think to myself if you enjoy teaming up with me," Sonic gave out a forced laughter.

Shadow thought about the excuse that Sonic made about getting into a fight with Knuckles along with what the blue hedgehog just said to him. Everything was a little confusing in Shadow's head for a moment but the black hedgehog was able to come up with two possible, but very strange reason, for Sonic's behavior.

'Basically he needed an excuse to stay, I guess that's where the lie came from,' Shadow observed Sonic's back and focused to his thought some more, 'But he doesn't want to stay if I don't want him around... huh I guess that's where asking the permission hassle came.'

"I'm not going to repeat this again so you better listen," Shadow warned and hoped that he had Sonic's attention.

"Did you.. by any chance heard anything that happened between me and that zone cop when we first arrived?"

This is when Sonic tensed up a little. Sonic still refused to turn his body around to face Shadow. As a habit Sonic folded his arms and tapped his foot a little, thinking about a way to go around this answer.

'Shoot, I don't want Shadow to think that I left because I got upset or something,' Sonic placed his hand on to his forehead, 'I don't even know what came over me that time! I usually don't care about what other people say about me even if it's completely negative! ' It was then when Sonic finally realized something.

He doesn't really care what other people say something about him. He really couldn't care less if other people judge him in way any but he seemed to care a lot when those comments were from Shadow and just his famous rival alone. But why? When did Sonic start to pay so much attention to Shadow's sayings or how Shadow thought of him?

"You know, I didn't hear everything since I was too busy looking around this place and all"," Sonic replied and hoped that Shadow would drop the topic. But of course, Shadow had to continue. He was very persistent in Sonic's opinion after all.

"The timing of when you left is when I said something about you," Shadow still kept his crimson eyes on to Sonic to see any type of sudden movements, "Were you perhaps, offended by what I said about you in particular?"

"Well... about that I was-"

"Shadow, Sonic I have a good news for you!," Zonic opened the door but noticed that the light was not even on in his office. Not to mention the atmosphere between Shadow and Sonic was also a little bizarre for the head zone cop as well.

"Am I interrupting something?" asked Zonic while turning his attention to Shadow but Sonic turned around to speak first.

"Not at all Zonic," Sonic rubbed his nose, "Just bantering around with Shadow here. What do you mean you have a good news?"

Shadow just continued to sit down on the bed and listened.

"I was able to detect another emerald that you guys are looking for in another dimension. I know I promised you guys some rest but-"

"Great timing!" Sonic quickly answered, "we had nothing better to do in here anyways, right Shadow?" Sonic smiled.

Shadow opened his mouth to say something but decided to keep it to himself for now. The black hedgehog nodded and stood up from the bed.

"I got the tracking device all hooked up so I can just-" Zonic took out the machine to present it to Shadow and Sonic but someone rushed in to Zonic's room.

"B-boss! It's an emergency!" one of the small zone cop with the full uniform on, including the helmet, came with while he tired to catch some breath.

"What is it?" the callous tone of Zonic scared the other zone cop a little.

"Sir, sorry for my manner," the other zone cop quickly bowed as an apology, "But I was reported from the security room that _Zhadow is in this building right now trying to free the other criminals!_ And so far he managed to free Scrouge as well!"

"What?!" Zonic's eyes opened wide as he thought about possible moves that he should do next.

"What should we do, sir?! We sent some backups to stop Zhadow and also catch Scrouge but-"

"Just send more cops in that level," Zonic calmly answered, "I wanted to personally talk to Zhadow myself anyways."

"Sir...?"

"Send the other cops to the inmate level and make sure Zhadow doesn't free other criminals. We don't want run around like idots trying to re-capture them. As for Zhadow, I'll handle himself so don't worry about that hedgehog. Now get going."

"Y-yes boss!"

"Woah woah! Zhadow is here in this building, right now?!" Sonic ran right next to Zonic.

"Sorry about this whole situation right now," Zonic sighed, "Guess Zhadow knows when to bug me the best."

"Let us help you! Shadow and I can-"

"Sonic, thanks for your help but I know that your business with the emerald and Mephiles is important as well," said Zonic. "The location you guys need to go is in a cold place. Not just any place but without a good preparation, you will freeze to death in hours. I can't follow you guys since I have Zhadow and Scrouge to take care of but I'll give everything you need."

"Are you sure you will be okay?" Shadow was also slightly concerned about Zonic's safety.

"Heh, don't worry Shadow, I deal with these types of situation more than you think. But I appreciate your concern," Zonic tapped Shadow's shoulder. Sonic on the other hand started to boil down to an unknown frustration again. He seem to have this kind of feeling everytime when Zonic and Shadow seems like close friends. A lot closer than Shadow and himself.

'Am I...jealous...?' Sonic narrowed his eyes in disbelief. Me getting jealous? But of what?! Of Zonic and Shadow being together? Shoudln't he be happy that both of his friends are getting along well without any fights or problems?

When Sonic couldn't handle more of Zonic and Shadow talking to each other once again, the blue hedgehog stomped out of the office and decided to wait for their little chat to end in the hall way. When Shadow and Zonic came out from the room few seconds later, Sonic went next to Shadow.

"Shadow? Our little talk in the office, let's just leave it there, okay?" Sonic said and before Shadow even had the chance to reply, the blue hedgehog ran down to the bottom floor.

"Were you guys having a serious talk?" Zonic asked out of curiosity and wanting to know the bond between Sonic and Shadow, also.

"It's nothing. I guess today's just not really his day," replied Shadow and both of the hedgehogs quickly took the path that Sonic took.

**(Hey look it's him! Zhadow _ hahahahah..)**

"Hmph... so that's Shadow the Hedgehog," said Zhadow who was just one floor above Zonic and Shadow. "He does look a lot like me. Maybe that's why Zonic is so attached to him." Zhadow thought for a few seconds and he decided to take a little shortcut to see Zonic's room that he didn't visit for a long time. Zhadow first took off his zone cop uniform and the helmet just in case if someone spot him, then they can just easily mistaken him as Shadow. He turned around to face the window and was greeted by his own reflection that was identical to Shadow. After his satisfaction, Zhadow took out the red chaos emerald.

"I wonder if that Shadow is also capable of doing this as well. Chaos Control!"

The red emerald glowed brightly as the black hedgehog vanished into thin air.  
Mean while, Sonic waited for Zonic and Shadow to come to the main headquarter. The blue hero knew that Zonic would take Shadow into this room since this was where Zonic had all of his equipment.

"Wait! I left my communicator at Zonic's room!" Sonic jumped up. He didn't want Shadow to think that Sonic was being forgetful for leaving an important item behind. The blue hedgehog for once decided to use his sonic speed to rush back to Zonic's room as fast as possible.

"Good thing I remembered before leaving this place," Sonic smiled and opened the door to Zonic's office. The place was dark but Sonic was able to spot this communicating watch right away which was on the computer desk.

The blue ears faced into the other direction as soon as Sonic heard someone's footsteps.

"Hey, don't tell me you forgot something from Zonic's room too, pal!" Sonic smiled as he looked at the black hedgehog but frowned a little when he didn't see Zonic behind him.

"Yo Shadow, where's Zonic? I didn't think that you would just leave him behind like that." Sonic had to admit, he was a little happy that for once Shadow was away from Zonic but the blue hero was still curious to why Shadow also came back to Zonic's room. It's not like Shadow had any business here.

'So this is that famous Sonic prime Zonic told me when I used to work as a zone cop,' Zhadow thought to himself, 'I must say he does have a little more perky attitude than Zonic's " Zhadow, who Sonic just mistaken as Shadow, thought to himself as he observed Sonic's features.

"Uh.. Shadow? Everything okay buddy?" Sonic cafeully walked closer to Zhadow.

'And he's more cheerful. It's like looking at Zonic when he's in his rare happy moments,' Zhadow smiled a little more and decided to play along with Sonic prime for a while.

"Nothing's wrong," Zhadow quickly replied and waved his hands off, "Zonic told me that he needs to take care of something in level C section LD first so I decided to come back."

"Level C section... w-what?" Sonic scratched his back quill in confusion, "Wow even I don't know what that room is and you seem to know what you're saying, Shadow," Sonic sounded a little dissapointed and of course, Zhadow who was also an ex-elite zone cop himself, was able to notice the sudden change in Sonic's tone right away.

"And what's wrong with me knowing those information?" Zhadow pressed further.

"Hehheh, nothing buddy," Sonic instantly smiled, "I just thought it was nice to see that you two are getting close real fast and I don't think 24 hours is not even up yet!"

In Zhadow's previous career as an elite zone cop along with Zonic, one of the training Zhadow had to go through was a class that had lessons about voices/tones. Zhadow needed to learn how to analyze criminal's emotions and their own reaction to what they said. At the same time, Zhadow learned how to quickly pick up the change in criminals' voices when they try to perform the act of deception.

This gave a huge upper advantage to Zhadow since at this every moment, he knew that Sonic prime was lying about something and was very uncomfortable.

"Are you.. perhaps jealous?" Zhadow hit the perfect spot.

Sonic instantly stopped everything that he was doing. This also included breathing as well. The blue hedgehog started to sweat a little and wondered why Shadow's simple word caught so much of his attention.

'Why am I.. scared?' Sonic thought and he quickly replied to Zhadow.

"What are you talking about, Shadow?" Sonic quickly turned around and went to the calender that was on the wall to take his mind off on something else, "Me getting jealous of my two friends getting along?"

Zhadow smiled and he also walked right behind Sonic, making a metal sound on the hard floor with his rocket shoes.

"Am I right?" Zhadow whispered right behind Sonic and this caused the blue hedgehog to turn around without wanting to.

"About what?!" Sonic started to feel real uncomfortable about this topic and for once in his life, he wanted Zonic to hurry up and finish whatever he was occupying himself with.

"Jealousy," Zhadow said quietly and place one of his hand to the wall that Sonic had his back strictly pressed on, "Am I hitting the right spot?"

"Shadow, I don't even know what your talking about," Sonic shook his head. But there was just something that even Sonic's couldn't understand at this exact moment. He could feel his adrealine rushing as if he is about to face an epic battle with an eneny. Sonic felt his heart pumping and blood rushing into his vein as his quills became excited by themselves.

"G-give me some room, Shadow," Sonic tried not to stutter too much. But Zhadow on the other hand, also caught the hint that Sonic prime felt nervous and of course, Zhadow loved when he gained dominance.

'Wonder why Zonic never made this kind of face?' Zhadow thought to himself, 'The only time I remember Zonic acting submissive is when I completely take control in bed. Hmm...Sonic prime is very amusing.'

"Scared of a little physical contact?" Zhadow leaned some more and poor Sonic frantically looked around to see other than the intimating black hedgehog right in front of him.

"What's wrong with you!" Sonic tried to use one of his hand to push Zhadow away, "Did Zonic do something to you? Did he say something funny about me? because if he did, you better not believe any of those stories" Sonic gave out a weak laughter.

'And still trying to joke around in this situation,' Zhadow smirked and used his white gloved finger to poke at one of Sonic's blue ears which flapped instantly at his touch.

"I'm just trying to spend some time with you, Sonic," Zhadow stopped playing around with Sonic's ear, "Since you seemed to display some envy when I'm hanging around with Zonic... am I right?"

Sonic's weak blush created from this atmosphere and embarassement faded right away when he heard Shadow saying something that was totally wrong.

Sonic

Zonic

'Sonic... he said my name...? He also said Zonic too!' Sonic opened his eyes more to examine this so called Shadow in front of him

'This isn't Shadow!' Sonic exclaimed by himself. He thought about the situation that happened when he was with Zonic and Shadow few moments ago. The other zone cop warned them that Zhadow was in this building to free some criminals.

"You saw right through me, Shadow," said Sonic with his half lidded eyes mixed with a grin on his face.

"So, you are admitting the jealousy? I never thought Sonic the hedgehog would get jealous on such a pity subject."

"I guess I just wanted to have my best friend all by myself," said Sonic as he wondered if what he just said was in fact... the truth or not.

"You have me all to yourself now without, Zonic," Zhadow leaned closer.

"Yup," Sonic smiled and nodded his head a little as he lifted his body so he was no longer touching the wall with his back anymore, "And do you know what I want to do with you right now?"

"What would that be, Sonic?"

"Let's play beating the Zhadow!" Sonic hissed and this took Zhadow by the surprise when the blue hedgehog quickly lifted his right leg to take an aim at the enemy's head. Zhadow instantly doudged and jumped away from Sonic.

"Sonic, you must be getting mixed up," Zhadow raised his tone but hope that Sonic would buy his lie.

"Yeah right, Sha-dow," Sonic made a quotation mark with his hands, "Nobody plays a prank on Sonic the hedgehog!"

Zhadow growed under his breath, "How did you know I wasn't Shadow, Sonic prime."

"Easy," Sonic rubebd his nose as a display of pride, "My buddy Shadow doesn't usually use my name that often... in fact he only did it once if I can remember correctly and he never used Zonic's name either."

"And tell me, Sonic prime," Shadow murmured something under his breath. The black hedgehog vanished and quickly re-appeard right in front of Sonic as he quickly pinned the blue hero to the cold metal floor. Sonic yelped a little and opened his eyes to find Zhadow on top of him.

"Is Shadow capable of doing this?" Shadow smiled.

"How did you... no way... you have a chaos emerald don't you?!" Sonic struggled below Zhadow but just like Shadow, this ex-zone cop was a lot stronger than Sonic's calculation.

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Zhadow as he pressed both of his hands to the blue arm. Sonic moan in pain a little but he quickly regained his voice.

"There's no way what I just saw was a speed," Sonic could feel his hands getting numb. "By the way Zhadow, my arm's turning more blue than before, how about letting my arm go now?" Sonic sneered.

"How about you shutting your mouth for once, Sonic prime,"

"What are you going to use to shut my mouth? Your lips? Because your hands seem pretty full right now if you ask me," Sonic laughed but was shocked when Zhadow came a lot closer than he imagined.

"And was that a request?" said Zahdow and Sonic was in one of those rare occation where he really had nothing to say.

"..." Sonic could feel blood rushing from the bottom of his feet to the end of his quill tips. The last sentence that Zhadow said to him echoed in Sonic's brain over and over again.

'This is Zhadow, Sonic!' Sonic mentally slapped himself, 'Great, he sure does look exactly like Shadow without any uniforms on'

Zhadow then gave out a rather dark laughter when he noticed that his poor victim had nothing to say back to him.

"Well Sonic prime, if you don't have anything to say back to me then maybe I can say something more to you," Zhadow pressed harder on to both of Sonic's arms with his hands. "Is it the fact that I remind you of something in particular?"

"Shut up, Zhadow," Sonic tried to focus on to his current situation.

"I shall ask again, Sonic prime. Was that witty remark, a request from you?"

"Geeze! I was just joking around!" Sonic noticed that his attempt to get free from Zhadow was still futile, "Just let me go so we can have a fair fight!"

"Hmm.. I actually like our position like this. I'm not sure about how your relationship is with between that Shadow but I must say I am a little hurt that Zonic seems to have a lot interest in him."

Sonic felt something hit hard in his chest and it wasn't anything physical. Zhadow did have a good point because even Sonic realized that Shadow was becoming a lot closer with Zonic faster than he had expected. It took years for Sonic to get acknowledged and respected by Shadow but that wasn't the case with Zonic. To the blue hero, it looked like Shadow had a complete interest in Zonic ever since when they first met!

"So what, Shadow and Zonic getting along, big deal... now just let me go!" Sonic fumed but Zhadow ignored Sonic's request and still continued.

"You don't understand, Sonic prime. It is a big deal for me. If Shadow thinks he can have a little fun with Zonic then maybe I should have fun with you,"

"Where are you going with this?" Sonic raised on of his eye which reflected a confused look on his face.

"I'm going to continue to fulfill that request earlier," said Zhadow and before Sonic was able to calculate Zhadow's next move, it just happened.

Zhadow tilted his head in small angle as he came forward to lay a kiss on Sonic's lips who was still pinned on the floor. Sonic's emerald pupils went small and he felt his head getting all fuzzy. What really made Sonic crazy was the fact that he was keep seeing Zhadow on top of him as Shadow. Sonic shook heavily below Zhadow's body since we didn't know what to do but he knew one thing. There was no way he was going to return that kiss.

'This is Zhadow, not Shadow!' Sonic closed his eyes to keep himself together. 'Not that I want this to be Shadow but-'

"Not kissing back?" Zhadow pulled away from a brief kiss that seemed like hours for Sonic. "Don't tell me you and Shadow didn't even kiss yet, Sonic prime."

"... W-what..?" for once Sonic sounded helpless as he asked.

This time, it was Zhadow's turn to get surprised a little when he heard Sonic's answer. Zhadow knew that Sonic and Shadow were not only the alternative version of themselves but they were also the originals. The ex-zone cop thought that the relationship between Shadow and Sonic were a lot similar to the past relationship that he had with Zonic.

"Don't play innocent, Sonic prime," Zhadow narrowed his eyes which made him more sinister if that was possible, "Aren't you in a relationship with Shadow right now?"

"What?!" Sonic screamed to the top of his lung and his face turned red instantly. Where in the world was Zhadow getting this idea from?!

"What are you talking about, Zhadow?!" Sonic couldn't keep his face from turning even more red, "I hope you're talking about a friendship kind of relationship!"

"Humor me," Zhadow responded, "If you think your Shadow can have fun with_ my_ Zonic, maybe I can have a little fun with you. Don't get me wrong, you're pretty cute yourself, Sonic prime," Zhadow whispered into Sonic's ear.

"I...uh...-" Sonic knew that he can probably get out from this whole mess if he tried hard enough but the deep inside, Sonic knew that he wasn't really putting much of an effort. First of all, he had Zhadow, who was literally a dark player version of Shadow on top of him which was a huge distraction for Sonic. Second, Sonic was curious why Zhadow made a statement that he and Shadow was in a...a.. romantic relationship.

"Hey Zhadow," Sonic cleared his throat and decided to toss a question, "Are you jealous that Shadow is hanging out with Zonic?" Sonic smirked but the grin on the blue hedgehog's was wiped away as soon as he felt Zhadow lips on his left cheek. Sonic blinked several times when he felt a small warmth as Zhadow pulled away and went for Sonic's lips to began a second kiss.

"Maybe I am a little jealous after all, Sonic prime," Zhadow leaned in, "We are both jealous in a way."

Sonic felt Zhadow's grip on his wrist getting more gentle as he felt the ex-zone cop's body weight on his stomach as well. Sonic just decided to give up his whole escape plan from Zhadow and decided to play along with whatever Zhadow's had on his mind. Sonic relaxed a little and let out a sigh of defeat. The blue hedgehog slowly started to close his eyes and hope that things will all work out in the end while Zhadow came closer and closer.

'This should be fun,' Zhadow thought with a dark grin when he observed the given up hedgehog below him with his eyes closed. Zhadow also noticed the small blushes around Sonic which was probably created from this awkward and yet embarrassing situation. When Zhadow was about to make in for taking Sonic's lips again but he quickly stopped himself when he heard someone running into to door.

"Sonic prime! Are you alright?!" Sonic heard the door crash open with a scream from Zonic.

The moment when Sonic saw Shadow, he felt a huge wave of happiness. At the same time, Sonic instantly felt ashamed for almost allowing Zhadow to steal another kiss from him the second time. What was Sonic thinking?! It was so unlike for him to give up easily like that!

'Guess I got a little carried away with the whole... mood,' Sonic reminded himself. Since Shadow was also here with Zonic, Sonic bought himself back to the reality.

"Hey Shadow, join he party!" Sonic bantered

"Get off from him, right now," said Shadow in a dark tone that surprised both Zonic and Sonic at the same time.

Sonic didn't know why but even though Shadow sounded really really really pissed, the blue hedgehog, who was still pinned under Zhadow, enjoyed what he heard from Shadow. It almost made it sound like Shadow cared about his safety and this really made a certain blue hedgehog extremely happy.

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**Review please and I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as well!**


	8. Kidnapped? No Hedgehog-napped!

**IMPORTANT READERS! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE READ THIS FIRST!**

**There were some (okay maybe a a lot) request if I can change my rating so my rating will be M from now on hehheh**

**I understand that there are ****_people don't really like rated M stuff_**** between Sonic and Shadow so there will always be warning ****in the beginning of the chapter**** when it is going to be "M" rated chapter. **

**So people who like T rated stuff, you guys can still stick around! You don't need to read M chapters to understand this story :)**

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**Shadow has an ability called Chaos Bind**** in Sonic Adventure 2. He also has an attack called ****Chaos Lance in Sonic 2006**** game so I decided to use some of those! **

**Hope you guys enjoyed my thank you message by the way! **

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"I hope your party doesn't involve you lying around like that," Shadow growled while scanning the whole situation that Sonic and Zhadow was in.

Shadow had to admit, his alternative form did look exactly like him and this scared him a little. Were their powers evenly matched as well? Was Zhadow also known as the ultimate life from just like Shadow? Aside from that, Shadow made a what seemed like an envious look on his face when he saw how vulnerable Sonic looked right below Zhadow. The ultimate life form's hands quickly formed into a fist as he stomped his rocket shoe to gain both Sonic and Zhadow's attentions again.

"Come on, get up!" Shadow pointed at the blue hedgehog, "You can do better than that. Stop being damn submissive!"

"Hey sorry pal. I was just having some chat with Zhadow here," said Sonic.

The blue hedgehog raised both of his blue legs and made an attempt to kick Zhadow's stomach. Of course, Zhadow saw this coming right away so the ex-zone cop leaped into he air and landed on the middle of the room.

"I see. you must be Shadow the hedgehog," said Zhadow as he stood up from the ground and faced Shadow with his glare.

"Zhadow the zone cop," Shadow replied back.

"He's not a zone cop anymore," interrupted Zonic as he stepped next to Shadow, "He is the most wanted criminal in No Zone."

"Zonic, I expected a friendly greeting from you. I guess since you met Shadow here, I'm not that important to you anymore," Zhadow replied.

"Watch your mouth," Zonic answered coldly as he took out a small pocket sized gun that said "inhibit" written on it.

"Don't make me laugh Zonic," Zhadow whispered, "Even if you say that you are out here to catch me, I know the truth. You. Can't. Harm. Me."

Shadow was confused to see what Zhadow was talking. The ultimate life form swiftly changed his perspective to Zonic and noticed something strange about the zone cop right away. Zonic's hand started to shake little by little and his emerald eye, which resembled Sonic's eyes, wasn't stable any more. The focus in Zonic's eyes were no longer there anymore. The elite zone cop's hand became weak as he decreased the level of the hand that held the small gun. Soon enough, Zonic dropped the weapon to the floor which echoed across the room. Zonic seemed completely lost in his own little world now so Sonic quickly decided to take charge.

"Yo Zhadow, watch your back!" yelled Sonic and the blue hedgehog tried to launch another kick to Zhadow.

"Chaos Control," Zhadow murmured and re-appeared right behind Sonic.

"Great! I forgot Zhadow can do chaos control!" Sonic shivered and before he had the time to turn around, Zhadow used his fist to knock Sonic's back with full strength. Sonic screamed in pain and fell on to his knee instantly with his arms shaking in weak support.

"You fool! you don't kneel in front of your enemy," Shadow said under his breath, "Chaos Spear!" Shadow's attack took Zhadow by a huge surprise. Zhadow never thought his alternative form would be able to have the power to control chaos energy. He was sure that he would be the only one in the universe that would be able to do so. Zhadow used his rocket shoes to quickly move away from the attack but chaos spears managed land some hits onto Zhadow's arm

"I see you can do the same attack like me," said Zhadow as he gave a brief glance at Sonic. Just then, from Zhadow's hand a dark energy started to appear as he pointed his hand towards Sonic. "Chaos Bind," Zhadow shouted.

"A.. what?" Sonic never heard that type of chaos attack but when Sonic realized something was wrong, it was already too late.

The air around Sonic started to feel as if a strong pressure was pulling him down. Sonic's whole body felt heavy. Soon enough, a bright yellow chaos energy wrapped Sonic around which fully immobilized the blue hedgehog.

"You should stay out of my way, Sonic prime. We can have fun later," Zhadow smiled as he observed the struggling hedgehog.

"You are not going to have any fun with him," Shadow growled but backed away as Zhadow also released chaos spear towards him.

Before Shadow even had the time to throw some of his attack, Zhadow vanished instantly, and gave a sneak attack to Shadow right behind him. The ultimate life form managed to leap away from Zhadow's punch but was very surprised at the damage that Zhadow was able to cause to the floor. There was a deep black hole where Zhadow threw his punch and cracks formed around the damage.

'He shattered the floor just with a single blow?' Shadow analyzed his enemy carefully. 'Just what is he?'

"Please don't tell me this is all you can do, Shadow," Zhadow laughed a little, "I expected a more epic battle from you."

"You do not want to see when I lose my temper," Shadow growled. 'I can't just release chaos blast here. It's going to hurt everyone including...' Shadow glanced at Sonic who was still tied to the chaos energy on the floor.

"Hey, go help him out!" Shadow turned around to see what Zonic was doing but the zone cop was still in his little world.

He looked as if he was under hypnotism or something. Zonic didn't even more at all from that exact spot.

"I'm just going to tie you down like Sonic prime here!" Zhadow form another dark energy around him, "Chaos Bind!"

When Shadow heard Zhadow's attack, the black hedgehog decided not to do anything. Instead, the ultimate life form just stood there without an attempt to evade the binding spell. Zhadow also realized that nothing happened to Shadow unlike Sonic.

"Hmph, you should know a chaos binding attacks doesn't work to someone who is also made of chaos energy himself," Shadow answered and jumped into the air to make a better target of Zhadow, "Chaos Lance,"

'Since when did Shadow know another move other than chaos spear?!' Sonic searched through his memories when he and Shadow worked together during missions but he never saw Shadow using other attacks aside from his signature move, chaos spear. The blue hedgehog was then displayed with red colored spears that was created as soon as Shadow waved his hand. They were more like an upgraded version of chaos spear if Sonic had to make the analysis.

'Did he learn all these stuff while I didn't see Shadow for a while?' thought Sonic.

Red spears missed Zhadow when the ex-zone cop used chaos control to easily evade the attacks. Spears instead made contact with various parts of the wall which made small explosions.

"Chaos Lance," Zhadow looked around to see how much Zonic's room was messed, "I don't know that chaos attack myself. You must be pretty powerful."

"Enough talking, just hand over the chaos emerald you have there," Shadow ignored Zhadow's comment and he narrowed his eyes even more. A clear sign that Shadow did not enjoy Zhadow's company at all. While listening to the conversation between Zhadow and Shadow, Sonic tried to bring Zonic's attention back to the reality. Something was seriously wrong with that zone cop right now but Sonic didn't want Zonic to stay like that until the whole battle was over.

"Hey Zonic!" Sonic tried to break free from the chaos energy that bonded him harshly to the floor, "You okay ther-argg!" When Sonic made an attempt to get up from the floor, Zhadow quickly landed his heavy rocket shoes right onto Sonic's back which made the blue hedgehog land harshly onto his stomach again.

"Sonic prime!" Zonic finally came back from his lost thought.

"I'm having a second thought," said Zhadow as he used his hand to tightly grab onto Sonic's right arm. The chaos energy was no longer around Sonic anymore.

"Hand him over," Shadow's anger started to boil down. But Shadow also didn't want to do something reckless because Sonic too close with Zhadow. One false move from Shadow could really do some damage to Sonic as and this was something he wanted to avoid the most. Shadow wanted to just skate and grab Sonic away from his so called alternative form but Shadow didn't really know what kind of powers Zhadow was capable of. The black hedgehog didn't want to take any risk just yet.

"I'll talk with Sonic prime for a second before I return him to you, Shadow," Zhadow smirked and roughly handled the blue hedgehog who struggled to free himself form Zhadow. Shadow felt a small stab in the chest and hoped that his ears were deceiving him.

"Let me go!" Sonic yelled and he became a little desperate at this point. He did hear Zhadow saying that he would take him.

Where would they go? Zhadow had the red chaos emerald so technically the ex-zone cop had the power to take him anywhere. Another strange thing that Sonic noticed was the impact that Zhadow inflected onto Sonic's body. The hero was used to with getting hit during his battles but they didn't knock his body out cold. But when he received one attack from Zhadow, if felt as it he was smashed into pieces from a twelve story building. Zhadow's hands were hard as a solid metal that paralyzed Sonic's body for a few seconds. Sonic coudln't move his body freely. This was when Sonic realized that he was in fact really in big trouble. It's been a while since the blue hero felt an actual fear during the battle since he always had fun fighting his past enemies.

'No... Zhadow isn't serious.. is he? I can't be separated from Shadow right now...!' Sonic panicked and this caused him to lose all the strength that was left inside him as his heart beat increased even more when the Sonic kept thinking about being separated. Being separated from his favorite rival. Then Sonic said something that he thought he would never do in his entire life living as the hero.

"S-Shadow!" Sonic finally called out with pled, "Help...help me, please!"

Help me please..!

Help me...

Please...!

Shadow's eyes opened as he realized what Zhadow was about to do next. The ex-zone cop revealed the red chaos emerald. The emerald started to shine in bright colors and Shadow took this as a bad sign.

'No... he better not take that idiot away!' Shadow thought as he took out the purple chaos emerald that he held onto from his back quills. Shadow didn't want to reveal his emerald to Zhadow, just in case Zhadow might do something to take the purple emerald away from him. But now, Shadow thought it was stupid for him to not use the emerald in the first place.

'I can't believe I put my priority in this damn chaos emerald than his safety...' Shadow cursed himself as he used the power of his emerald. "Chaos Control!"

Shadow hope that he would stop the time just at the right moment to catch Zhadow from taking Sonic away to who knows where! The ultimate life form knew that compared to the power of the chaos emerald, his speed would not match. Shadow felt all of the surrounding beginning to slow down as his white emerald glowed like the sun but Shadow was shocked to see that Zhadow and Sonic were no longer in front of him anymore.

"No..." Shadow whispered as he looked around the room. Nobody was here except for Zonic and Shadow. '

Was my chaos control too slow...?' Shadow thought and the black hedgehog stopped the effect of the purple emerald. The time was no longer slowing down anything and everything went back to normal.

"W-where is Sonic prime?!" Zonic frantically looked around to see any sign of Zhadow and Sonic.

"Damn..." Shadow sighed deeply. For once, the black hedgehog thought he was too slow. Too slow from stopping Zhadow right on time. "Don't you have any way to track that criminal?" Shadow turned around, hoping that Zonic had any reasonable answers.

"I-I'm... I'm really sorry Shadow..." Zonic couldn't face Shadow anymore. 'I can't believe Zhadow was right in front of me and I failed to catch him again! Why do I always go though the same pattern...!'

"Hey! Snap out of it!" Shadow skated in front of Zonic and shook the zone cop a little, "What the hell is wrong with you?! Why didn't you do anything when he was here?"

"Zhadow is right..." Zonic closed his eyes and Shadow was surprised to see a small strain of tears forming on the corner of zone cop's eyes, "I can't hurt him. He knows too much about me."

Shadow finally released Zonic and stepped back a little to give some room for Zonic. The black hedgehog didn't expect to see the strict version of Sonic to show even the smallest drops of tears. Shadow waited for Zonic to continue but when the zone cop just stood there without a word, Shadow broke the silence.

"What do you mean you can't harm him?" Shadow pressed on, "Is Zhadow protected by something? Is he really that powerful?"

Zonic shook his head, "No... it has nothing to do with Zhadow's abilities."

"Then what is it then?" Zonic couldn't face Shadow any longer because no only he failed as an elite zone cop to stop Zhadow on time but Zonic also allowed the criminal to take Sonic prime away!

The zone cop was worried that Shadow would be mad at him and would probably not want to speak to him again. As Zonic thought about why he always had hard time dealing with Zhadow when he confronted him, a certain sweet but painful memory rushed into Zonic's mind.

**Warning: There is a M reference here. If you don't want to read it, scroll down until you see the safe sign in bold letters!**

**Warning: There is a M reference here. If you don't want to read it, scroll down until you see the safe sign in bold letters!**

**Warning: There is a M reference here. If you don't want to read it, scroll down until you see the safe sign in bold letters!**

**_Zonic's memory_**

"Z-Zhadow, would you keep yourself under control...?" the elite zone cop clenched tightly on to the bed sheets that was all tangled up at his body this point.

"What's wrong, Zonic?" Zhadow closed his eyes as he placed light kisses on Zonic's cheek, "This is what you wanted, correct?"

"I didn't know being on the bottom-" Zonic yelped a little in pain, "is going to hurt t-this much." "

"Well, get over it," Zhadow answered rather coldly and leaned closer. This time he managed to place a more rough but passionate kiss on the elite zone cop's lips. Few seconds later, Zhadow pulled away to continue his talk, "Also, you're the one that told me you wanted to get _taken care of_."

"Hmph, you don't have to be so mean about it Zhadow," Zonic answered between the moans, "Don't get too tough just because you're on top of me right now." Zonic rolled his eyes but he quickly jerked his whole body with wide opened emerald eyes when Zhadow placed a little force inside him.

Zonic knew that Zhadow loved when he had the full control and not to mention total domination. But at the same time, Zonic didn't mind getting dominated by Zhadow as long as it had nothing to do with work.

"I'm sorry but I'm in control right now," Zhadow smirked, "Wipe that proud look on your face, Zonic. Don't make go too rough on you in our first night," Zhadow hissed under his breath.

"You sure love to take charges, huh?" said Zonic as he tried to get used to with their current position. "I'm amazed at how you manage to control yourself when I order you around during day time."

Zhadow opened his mouth to respond to Zonic's last comment but was too directed when blue zone cop's quiet moaning in pleasure caught his attention. Zhadow just loved seeing his partner like this. Very weak, helpless and best of all vulnerable. Zhadow actually thought about using some of their items that they use to capture criminals like a simple hand cuff or even a control collar but he didn't want to scare his romantic partner in their first night.

"Why are you slowing down..?" Zonic asked while keeping his eyes shut. At this point he no longer felt the pain which helped him to finally enjoy the sexual treatment

"Just thinking about how to fully take advantage of you," Zhadow answered and reached down to  
give a small peck on Zonic's forehead.

When Zonic felt his partner's gentle lips, he finally opened his eyes with a little disappointing but perplexed look on his face expression.

"Was that really needed?" asked Zonic as he used his legs to bring Zhadow for a closer contact. "I didn't know you can act soft on me."

Zhadow of course took this as a challenge from his cocky but adorable lover as he started to increase both his speed and power of each thrust. The confident look on Zonic's felt faded away and was replaced with a blushed one. The blue zone cop bit his tongue so he can keep his mouth shut from saying anything stupid.

'You can't keep yourself silent forever...' Zhadow trailed off. The black hedgehog leaned a little further to reach to his lover's ears. Also known as Zonic's most sensitive spot. When Zhadow started to tease them with bites and licks, the elite zone cop jerked a little as he felt his whole body heating up. Soon enough, Zonic's panting sound became a soft moaning that excited Zhadow even more.

"Is _this_ what you wanted then? Me having the total control of our beloved boss?" The black hedgehog purred.

"Y-you... you're good..." Zonic whispered as he allowed Zhadow to consume him more and more.

Zonic hated when people bossed him around, probably because Zonic himself is in the highest ranking position in No Zone. Zonic was in fact, in the higher status than Zhadow but strangely, the elite zone cop didn't really mind if it was Zhadow taking in charge of him once in a while. Zonic liked showing his submissive side but only to Zhadow.

"Anything else you want to tell me?" Zhadow smirked and waited for that specific sentence he wanted to hear.

"I am yours for tonight,Zhadow," Zonic relaxed completely on to the bed as he felt Zhadow's shadow coming closer and closer...

**_End of Zonic's memory_**

**You can Stop Scrolling it's safe now!**

**You can Stop Scrolling it's safe now!**

"Zhadow and I..." Zonic was a little hesitant to continue with his story, "Zhadow and I were... m-more than just zone cop partners." Shadow raised one of his eyes as confusion but didn't say anything at all this time. "We were... I guess you can say that we were in a secret relationship," Zonic let out yet another harsh sigh.

Shadow's eyes went wide open when he heard Zonic's last sentence. So Zonic and Zhadow... were in a relationship?! But how did their relationship turned into a catching game?

**Another world called Cheimon**

Meanwhile, Sonic and Zhadow landed in another world where everything pure white. In fact, even the sky was white as if it was covered by a huge wave of clouds. The floor was mixed with what seemed like a frozen water which was covered with snow sheets. There were few flowers that stuck out from the snow but the petals looked more like a glass than soft ones that you would see in an ordinary world.

"Ah.. my back still hurts crazy...!" Sonic moaned in pain. The hero finally opened his eyes and looked around. He felt a cold breeze through his thick quills and Sonic automatically tried to keep himself a little warm by rubbing his arms back and forth with his gloved hands.

"Where is this place?" Sonic whispered and a white fog came out from his mouth, indicating that the weather was indeed very cold.

"Cheimon. This place got its name from winter storm in Greek," Zhadow answered who was right behind Sonic. "Have you ever been to this place, Sonic prime?"

"Heh, like I would want to come to this crazy place," Sonic dusted off some snow that was on his blue knee. If Sonic's back was not in an incredible pain, he would have challenged Zhadow for some serious battle. But the blue hero still felt the aching pain but not only that, Zhadow looked like he wasn't really in a mood for another fight so Sonic decided to wait and just be on his guard.

"I'm surprised that your Shadow can also use chaos spear. I guess that means he is also capable of chaos control as well? He must be very similar with me," said Zhadow as he touched the red chaos emerald.

"I hate to break it to you but there is one thing that I noticed which was different from you and Shadow."

"And what would that be?"

"Shadow doesn't use cheap trick to kidnap hedgehogs," Sonic replied using a huge sarcasm in his voice. "But I have to hand it to you, you seem to be a lot stronger than Shadow. I received few punches from him before but you-" Sonic pointed at Zhadow, "your hands literally feel like metal hammers! I thought my bones were going to break into little pieces!"

After tossing the red emerald up and bottom with his one hand, Zhadow decided to take off his white glove to show something to his prisoner. Sonic was very surprised to see what Zhadow had hidden under is glove.

"Metals?" Sonic came closer to Zhadow, "Woah..hold on! Your hand is literally a metal?"

"Both of my hands are like this, Sonic prime," Zhadow sighed and took off his second glove to show a hard looking hand. "Also, these are not metals. My hands are components of carbon in his highest state, diamond."

"Uh... a carbon diamond?"

"It's one of the strongest elements to the point where nothing can scratch this unless it's another carbon diamond."

'No wonder!' Sonic mentally slapped himself, 'This guy's hand is definitely not normal! I mean they are freaking hard elements!' Sonic rubbed his back one more time to make sure there weren't any cracks in this bone.

"... You seem surprised. Your boyfriend's hands are not like mine then?" Zhadow placed the gloves back to his hand to cover his hard looking hands.

Sonic blushed in deep shades of red again, "Stop saying that! Shadow and I are not dating! I don't even know why you're keep saying that to me!'

'What...? Sonic prime and Shadow are not... their relationship is not like how Zonic and I were? Or is he just denying it?'

"Never mind then," replied Zhadow, "I'm the incomplete product of an ultimate life form. That's why my hands are like this. Some inner parts of my body is hard like carbon diamond."

"The incomplete product?" Sonic tilted his head in confusion and Zhadow smiled at this, finding the blue hedgehog amusing as ever. "I'm not like Shadow. Even though I might possess chaos powers, I still age like normal living beings. If Shadow is the real ultimate life form, then he should be immortal."

"That's right," Sonic snapped his finger, "I remember hearing from Shadow something about not aging!"

"Now if you excuse me, I have a chaos emerald to find in this world," said Zhadow as he backed away from Sonic in order to use the power of the chaos emerald without him.

'Zhadow must have heard what Zonic said!' Sonic thought back to zone cop's word about finding a chaos emerald in a place where it was really cold.

"Hey! If you're planning to look for that chaos emerald, why did you bring me here?"

For once, there was a silence between two hedgehogs. In fact, this was the first time that Sonic first witnessed Zhadow being so speechless. Zhadow's eyes were half closed as if he was thinking about something. A few moment later, Zhadow shook his head gently. Sonic didn't know why but he thought Zhadow for once looked not very, well, evil. He had a little sad grin on his face before the ex-zone cop's perspective went back to the curious blue hedgehog.

"Because I want to upset Zonic as much as possible," Zhadow said bluntly.

"Why do you want Zonic to-"

"If you know what's good for you, stay here Sonic prime. I'll search this place and come back for you," Zhadow interrupted Sonic, "Chaos Control."

"Hey! Wait up!" Sonic yelled but it was already too late. Sonic was a little disappointed when Zhadow vanished into thin air with the bright red light. The cold air became stronger as Sonic looked around to see if there was any other living things aside from himself.

"There is no way Zhadow is going to come back for me," Sonic snorted and rubbed his legs to relax some muscle, "He's probably hoping that I would just stay here and freeze to death! Well, sorry to burst your bubble Zhadow but I'm going to find that emerald myself before you do. Then I can hopefully use chaos control go back to Shadow and Zonic."

Sonic thought about the last time when he used the chaos emerald for chaos control. Unlike Shadow or Zhadow, it was difficult for the blue hedgehog to use chaos control with just one emerald. It's not like he had the chaos energy flowing though this body like the two black hedgehog.

"I better cross my fingers when I use chaos control," Sonic reminded himself and started to run across the winter land.

The cold but refreshing air blasting in to his face and the sound of snow below his feet made Sonic chuckle a little. Sonic felt so much at ease as he left his mind blank. All the stuff about Zonic, Zhadow and Shadow were left behind as Sonic only thought about one thing. That was running. Running untill he felt the satisfaction.

Meanwhile, after hours of warping into different places, Zhadow failed to find the chaos emerald that he heard from Zonic. It was true that Zhadow had chaos energy flowing just like the ultimate life form but Zhadow was the incomplete product. This meant, Zhadow did not possess the power to feel the presence of chaos emerald. With a slight dissapointent mixed with anger, Zhadow decided to chaos control back to where Sonic was supposed to be. But, what Zhadow didn't realize was the fact that Sonic actually took off!

"What the? Did Sonic prime just leave?" Zhadow tried to detect Sonic's foot prints on the snow but it was too late. "He's not very bright like, Zonic!" Zhadow screamed in anger, "That fool is not going last long in this coldness!"

It was then when Zhadow noticed a shift in the rushing of the wind.

"Oh no... the blizzard is coming in. I hope Sonic prime can take care of himself," Zhadow looked around to see if he can spot any sign of the blue hedgehog but all he saw was a bunch of snow. Sonic was the fastest thing alive and he could be anywhere at this point.

'I can't just keep randomly using chaos control until I run into him,' Zhadow thought to himself, 'I hope you're not that stupid as I think you are.' With that thought, Zhadow used one last chaos control to wrap himself out from this world, leaving Sonic behind.

So we now return to the running hero.

It took a while untill Sonic started to decrease his speed but even Sonic noticed the change in coldness. It was so cold to the point where Sonic couldn't keep his legs shivering from the wind so he needed to stop with the running. The blue hedgehog rubbed his hands together to form any type of heat that he can create. When the rubbing got tired, Sonic tried to warm his hands using his breath.

"I.. I think I can sense the chaos emerald!" Sonic's ears perked up in happiness and he used his last bit of energy to run just one more time to the direction where he felt the chaos energy.

"Yes! I think the emerald should be just around-" It was then when Sonic's scream could he heard from miles and miles away.

The blue hedgehog stepped into the part of the floor that looked like a snow but it wasn't. Sonic came right into the thin ice and below the glass was a deep water that could swallow anything into darkness in matter of minutes. Sonic felt the icy water covering his whole body and he even drank some of the salty water. The blue hero knew that he was drowning.

"Zhadow! Zhadow are you there?!," Sonic spit back out some of the water and tried to keep himself floating by moving his arms and legs around, "Zhadow! Zonic! Shadow! Anyone there?!" Sonic felt tears forming form his emerald eyes.

He was not going to die this simple.

There was just no way.


	9. Shadow's Worry

**Thank you so much for awesome reviews! Still surprises me how there are people reading this! XD**

**I will send my thank you notes soon!**

* * *

"You and Zhadow are in a relationship?" Shadow asked again to make sure he heard correctly from Zonic. He thought that there was something going on between Zonic and Zhadow since everytime when the criminal's name was brought up, Zonic would avoid it as much as possible. But he didn't expect this sort of answer.

"W-we _were_. But not anymore ever since Zhadow quit his duty as a zone cop though," Zonic stuttered and looked away from Shadow which was very unlikely of him.

Shadow was a little curious about back ground story between Zhadow and Zonic but that was not the main priority. The black hedgehog crossed his arms and frowned when he thought about what just happed with Sonic getting kidnapped.

"I don't care if you guys were in a relationship or not. Why did you just stand there? Didn't you see that-"

"I know Sonic prime was in danger!" Zonic shouted back which surprised both Shadow and even Zonic himself. There was a small silence between them and Zonic mentally slapped himself for misbehaving in front of Shadow; not to mention this was his first time losing his self-control. "I apologize for the yell," Zonic quickly bowed and continued, "I know that Sonic prime needed help but... you don't understand the relationship that I had with Zhadow. For some reason when I try to do anything that involves harming him, I just can't do it."

Shadow opened his mouth to protest some more but he quickly closed them right away. Maybe Zonic's relationship with Zhadow was a lot deeper than how Shadow first assumed. If Zonic and Zhadow were that close, why did Zhadow decided to leave his status as a zone cop? No, why did he leave Zonic alone in the first place? Shadow knew that he would never abandon someone he deeply cared about, that was for sure. Maybe Zonic feels betrayed?

'Feeling of betrayal...' Shadow thought about his past experiences. The black hedgehog himself went though a lot of lies when Eggman, Black Doom and GUN told him that they can help to discover his memories if he fulfills them a favor. But in the end, they were all lies and of course Shadow felt betrayed.

'The grudge of hating someone when he betrays you,' Shadow glanced at Zonic whose ears were flat down with sadness, 'But his hatred towards Zhadow must be weaker than how much he cares about him if he's acting like this.'

What Zonic was going through was some what similar to what Shadow had to deal with. The black hedgehog closed his eyes and traced back to his old memories few years back when he was working as a GUN agent to save Rouge. The ultimate life form ran into Sonic who was also busy with protecting princess Elise.

**_Shadow's memory_**

"Hey Shadow, I don't want this question to hurt your self-esteem or anything like that but, I thought you hated GUN?" Shadow remembered Sonic asking this particular question when Sonic literally jumped out of nowhere and joined Shadow who observed the night sky during his break.

"What do you mean?" Shadow asked with a confused expression. He glanced at Sonic who also sat down on the cool grass and faced the night sky. The blue blur then took a deep breath and enjoyed the nice night wind and the breeze going through his quills.

"Well you know," Sonic chuckled a little, "I heard from Tails that GUN is the one that invaded the Ark. I never thought you would offer to help GUN since they literally destroyed where you were created from."

"Don't get me wrong, it's not like I decided to like GUN or anything like that," Shadow rolled his eyes.

"Then what is it?" Sonic kept the topic.

Shadow faced his attention to the sky again and tried to see if it was possible to locate the Ark. Shadow smiled at himself for being so illogical but hey, he just wanted to try it. "Maria wanted this planet to be safe. I'm just working with the GUN when they need me in case of emergencies. Since GUN _is_ the organization that keeps the Earth protected, I have no room for hating it in the first place."

"So in summary, you care about Maria a lot that you can't possibly hate GUN, right?" Sonic smiled.

"..." Shadow didn't say anything and Sonic smiled some more.

"I guess you have some heart inside you too buddy!"

**_End of memory_**

'Zhadow must be someone important,' Shadow concluded and decided not to bother Zonic with more questions since Sonic was still his main concern.

"Never mind," Shadow broke the silence, "We need to find where they chaos controlled to."

"Listen Shadow, I really am sorry about what happened to Sonic prime," Zonic sighed. "You can yell at me or even do some beating if you want. I wouldn't mind , really."

With both of his hands behind him, Zonic waited for the worse thing possible that Shadow could do since he had the every right to do so. The zone cop shut his eye tightly and hoped that what ever Shadow had in might wouldn't be too violent.

"I am not going to do anything to you," Shadow came closer to Zonic and placed his hand on to the zone cop's shoulder to give some type of motivation. "We first need to find them. It would be wasting our time if we try to undo something that already happened."

'He... he's not mad at me?' Zonic opened one of his eyes that made a contact with Shadow. 'I thought Shadow would be disappointed with me. Or at least hit me for acting like a ludicrous back there.'

Zonic felt a small happiness in his chest and this was something he did not feel it in a while ever since Zhadow left his life. This type of feeling was a different from the joy that you receive when you finish your work or when you get praise from other zone cops. This sensation almost felt like...

"Shadow," said Zonic which was more like a whisper.

The black hedgehog didn't say anything but his attention was fully to Zonic which made the elite cop to continue.

"Thank you for not punishing me. I was acting irresponsible back there," Zonic said sheepishly with his head still low to the ground.

"Let's put the past event behind and focus on what's important now," said Shadow with a little lighter tone so Zonic will know that he was definitely not mad at him.

Shadow placed his hand off from Zonic's shoulder and allowed the zone cop to pull himself together. Zonic took a deep breath and exhaled loudly as he broke some bone knuckles to keep his mind focused on the important matters.

"Okay, first we need to track Zhadow and see where he is since Sonic prime is probably with him," Zonic was back to his serious working status. This also made the black hedgehog smile just for a few second in relief.

"You said before that if you have the DNA sample then it is possible to track them, right?" Shadow reminded what Zonic told him when he and Sonic met for the first time.

"Affirmative. But in the case with Zhadow, it doesn't work that easily since he doesn't seem to have a clear DNA fragment."

"What do you mean? Even I have a DNA and I was created as well," said Shadow.

"Zhadow seems a little different. When we were partners in No Zone, I remember Zhadow was not able to create his proper ID because every time when they took his DNA sample, the machine always broke down several times." Zonic thought about the brief conversation with Zhadow when they were once together. 'He said something about being incomplete?'

'This guy seems to be a a little different than I had in mind...' Shadow thought about the previous battle with his alternative form.

"Boss are you alright?!" one of the zone cop who was a squirrel, came running into the room. "What happened here?!"

Now that Zonic looked around his room, it was a complete mess as if a huge tornado came and turned everything upside down. The walls had holes from attacks that Shadow and Zhadow created. The bed sheets were no longer clean anymore and this bothered the elite zone cop to a small degree. Windows were shattered and there were dark explosion spots on the ceiling and the rug floor as well. Zonic thought about re-doing his whole room once all the conflicts got resolved. He was planning to do some arrangement anyways during is free time.

"Don't mind this, Zester," Zonic waved off with his hand, "What do you need right now?"

"Sir, I just got the report that we managed to catch Scourge the hedgehog! He is back into his zone jail right now."

"Scourge the hedgehog?" Shadow repeated the name and looked at Zonic for an explanation.

"He's basically another version of Sonic prime," Zonic answered right away, "Expect for his color, Scourge has the same feature as Sonic prime. Scourge turned green when he tried to absorb the power from the master emerald when something terribly went wrong. I guess he had some genetic mutation that caused him to have a permanent alteration in his body color."

"We were able to catch him using the control collar that you gave us, sir!" said the lower zone cop gave a picture of Scourge and his profile.

"Interesting... and does this green hedgehog happen to work together with Zhadow?" Shadow glanced at the profile that was on Zonic's hand but waved it off when he realized that they were just bunch of numbers and scientific jargon.

"Zhadow and Scourge recently started to work together. Usually Zhadow would try to free Scourge every time when he gets himself back to the prison cell," said Zonic as he placed the paper work on the table.

"Let's have some talk with him right now," Shadow sounded determined and stepped towards the lower zone cop. "Lead the way."

~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~0~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~

'Okay, I just got to keep things under control' Sonic tried to relax but it was hard to do when you are fully aware that you are drowning. Sonic kept using his legs back and forth in order to reach into the other side of the snow.

'I'm not going to die like this! No way! I rather die from Shadow killing me from a battle than this,' Sonic splashed some more but his arms and legs were getting more numb, 'This is going to be so lame if I die like this!'

The blue hedgehog could feel that his body began to shut down a little as his muscles were responding a lot slower than before. Sonic then sunk under the water for a few seconds and the blue hedgehog literally freaked out when he managed to have a small preview to the bottom of the black water. He quickly moved and brought himself to the surface of the water to take some air.

'I'm not going to last... this splashing is not going to really going to take me anywhere,' Sonic thought hopelessly. He hated the fact that he didn't learn how to swim.

It was then when Sonic felt a cramp on one of his kicking leg. The surprising pain quickly traveled through the blue blur's body and in an instant, one of Sonic's leg was paralyzed.

'No! No! No! No! You better not fail on me right now!' But the more blue hedgehog moved, the pain started to creep up to his other leg. But as the pain grew by the second, Sonic no longer felt the coldness which was a little odd sensation for him. Few seconds later, Sonic realized that he was already under the water and strangely, the blue hero stopped worrying. It was as if he accepted his death.

~~~~~~0~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~

"Hey there Zonic, my favorite zone cop as usual," Scourge laughed and backed away when both Shadow and Zonic entered the zone jail.

"I have some question to ask you, prisoner 2498," said Zonic with his monotone as usual.

"Oh come on, Zonic. Do I have to remind you my name again?" Scourge gave an evil grin, "How about you let my hands free from this ridiculous chains and I can have some fun with you. I know all- well most of Zhadow's tricks that can _satisfy_ you if you know what I mean~" Scourge licked his lips.

Shadow just watched as Zonic sighed deeply. Scourge definitely had the same characteristic as Sonic just like Zonic but the only difference was his color which was green and not to mention his attitude. Also on Scourge's stomach, there was a huge scar that was probably from a battle not too long ago. On Scourge's neck, there was a yellow ring that was very similar to Shadow's power ring.

'Is that the control collar that they talked about?' Shadow analyzed the ring more carefully.

"Show me your disrespect one more time and I swear I will increase the control collar's effect," Zonic took out a small device and presented to Scourge.

"Alright! Alright you got me! I'll behave! Geeze, you only have fun with Zhadow... oh wait.. who's this?" Scourge's attention finally went to Shadow.

"That is none of your business," Shadow replied with a stoic look.

Scourge gave a loud whistle with his mouth before speaking again.

"Well, well look what we have here! One sexy hedgehog huh? You really resemble Zhadow but something seems different about you. I don't even want to guess your name, can I just call you Stripes?"

"I need you to tell me anything that you know about, Zhadow," said Shadow with a hint of anger in his tone. Shadow thought Zhadow was bad, Scourge was already on his top hated list and they just exchanged few words.

"I'll tell you anything you want to know if you give me a kiss right here hottie," Scourge made a kissing position with his mouth.

"Don't joke around with me," Shadow tried to keep his anger under control but it was difficult with this perverted hedgehog. "I want you to say what you know."

"Right and I'm going to give away things that easily," Scourge laughed and walked closer to Zonic. "So how about you and me tonight in this cell, huh?"

Without even thinking twice, Zonic pressed the bottom which caused the control collar that was on Scourge's neck to glow control collar shined brightly and the green hedgehog could feel his muscles getting weaker and weaker. It was to the point where even breathing was a difficult task on his body. Scourge yelped in pain but regained his control when Zonic decreased the effect few seconds later.

"You shouldn't abuse your power, Zonic," Scourge smirked, "That's a complete abuse to the prisoner."

"Okay, that's it," Shadow gritted his teeth. The time was running out and Shadow feared for the worst. Sonic was still missing and the black hedgehog didn't even know if Zhadow was still with Sonic or not.

"What the-" Scourge didn't even have had the time to say what was on his mind as Shadow pushed Scourge to the other side of the cell and completely pinned him using his two hands. The other prisoners in the neighboring cells tried to have a look to see what was going on between Shadow and Scourge.

"Shadow!" Zonic yelled but the ultimate life form didn't hear the zone cop.

"We want information,_ now_," Shadow said quietly with his fangs showing off.

"Oh, I like when someone takes in charge. You got my attention now, Stripes," Scourge winked.

"Listen! Someone important to me could be in a life threatening situation right now and if you don't open your mouth other than saying absurd nonsense then you're going to regret this!" Shadow's eyes glowed in determination and his grip on Scourge's arms became tighter and tighter.

'Shadow must care about Sonic prime more than I imagined.' Zonic looked down to his feet. 'Wonder if Zhadow even cared about me at all.'

"So does that mean you want to take this to the next level?" Scourge chuckled, clearly not understanding the situation he just put himself into.

"You little..." the ultimate life form growled.

Shadow had enough with this green hedgehog's stupidity. The black hedgehog quickly released one of Scourge's arm and used that hand to form into a shape of a fist.

Without a warning, Shadow released his full blast to Scourge's stomach.

"...!" Scourge couldn't describe how painful that punch was from Shadow. Let's say it was too painful that he didn't even have the chance to scream in pain. Both of is legs trembled and it took a lot of effort for Scourge to regain his balance.

"Y-you... you know for a hot hedgehog, you really know how to throw some punches," Scourge coughed a little.

"Keep talking nonsense and I'll really release my full power," Shadow warned him.

"You wouldn't dare! I bet you're just- arrrggg!" Scourge struggled to free himself when he received another direct punch from Shadow on his stomach. Scourge coughed and there was a metal flavor that roamed around his tongue. Scourge spit out and noticed some blood and this surprised the green hedgehog. Just how hard did Shadow punch him?

"Hey! Aren't you going to do anything, Zonic?!" For once Scourge had a pleading eye and asked Zonic for help.

"You deserved it," Zonic shrugged his shoulder and smirked.

"Do you want more?" Shadow narrowed his eyes and waited for the prisoner to speak up again.

"Fine, Mr. Serious! I'll talk! What do you want from me?" Scourge coughed some more and wiped away some traces of blood around his lips. The green hedgehog never thought that Shadow would actually hurt him for real. Shadow must have pretty bad temper just like Zhadow!

"Do you know where Zhadow might be right now?" Shadow asked right away.

"Zhadow? I can't believe he left me to find some stupid emerald! He told me that he overheard you guys talking about finding an emerald in this... winter... whatever place," Scourge rolled his eyes. He fell flat on the floor when Shadow released him.

"Zhadow went to the Cheimon?" Zonic's eyes went wide open. Zonic didn't want to believe that his prisoner was telling the truth but for once Scourge looked pretty serious. The green hedgehog just stared at Zonic for a few seconds and gave his attention back to Shadow.

"That's what I heard. Now how about a little pat on the back for helping you guys," Scourge wagged his tail a little. Shadow just let out a low growl before he exited the cell first. Zonic followed behind Shadow, leaving the pissed off green hedgehog alone in the cold jail. Scourge kicked the cell with his foot and waited a to see if any other cops would pass by so he can mock them just for fun.

"This is not good..." Zonic let out a deep sigh as they walked toward the exit of the prison.

"What do you mean?" Shadow didn't want any more bad news but he needed to hear what Zonic had to say.

"Cheimon is known to have an incredible blizzard that wipes out any living being. You need to have a special oral medication taken that can help you do remain a good body temperature for couple of hours before entering that dimension."

'But how is it possible that two people were able to travel into another dimension just using one emerald?' Shadow clearly remembered that the ex-zone cop only had one red chaos emerald. Even Shadow cannot chaos control two people into another world just using one emerald because it would consume too much energy to the point where it was just not possible! Unless Zhadow has a lot more chaos energy stored inside his body than Shadow himself. This meant Sonic could really in more serious danger!

"I'm going right now," Shadow said right away without a second thought.

"Shadow, hold on. Don't you need to take the medication first before you go?" Zonic reasoned with him.

"Do you have it ready now?" Shadow tapped his foot. He really wanted to get his search started for Sonic. The ultimate life form was slow the first time and there's no way he would be slow again the second time. Shadow watched as Zonic ran opened one of the pocket that was on the back pocket of his zone cop uniform and carefully presented it to Shadow.

"It takes time to make but I only have one with me," said Zonic and he took out a small pill from the small bag to show Shadow how it looks like.

"I'll just take that. I probably don't need to take the medicine myself so I'll just make sure he takes the pill once I find him," Shadow took the pill and the small pouch that came with it from Zonic's hand.

The black hedgehog placed the small pill back into the bag while he calculated how in the world he was going to search for Sonic in a new world that he never visited before. Zonic on the other hand stood in front of Shadow, not really knowing what to do or say next. The zone cop watched Shadow, who was probably thinking about something to himself, and tried to come up with anything to say. Zonic tapped his finger to the wall that was behind him and this sound caught Shadow's attention. Zonic also gave a little surprised look to Shadow before he said something to break the awkwardness.

"Are you sure you will be okay?" Zonic was worried to let Shadow go alone since he had to take care of the mess that happened in No Zone thanks to Zhadow and Scourge.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me," Shadow reassured.

"Before you go, I need to warn you one more thing about that world. Once the blizzard start, it will start to distort everything. I will let you borrow the dimensional gun that I use to travel from different worlds but the portal might not open during the blizzard. That's how powerful the storm is."

"Hmmm... I see."

"So try to find Sonic prime before the blizzard start. If not... then..." Zonic searched for something to say to Shadow because he wanted to ease off Shadow's worry just a little. But Zonic knew that surviving the full blown storm was no easy task.

"Relax," Shadow came closer to Zonic, "We will come back safely. I am the ultimate life form and once I find him, I'll let him take the pill which should help him a little."

"Right, I trust you Shadow," answered Zonic and he took out the weapon belt on his waist that had the dimensional gun with it. "Take this whole belt with you so you don't have to bother hold it when you skate around."

Shadow nodded and was about to take the belt but Zonic took the belt away from Shadow.

"I'll assist you putting this on," said Zonic. The zone cop went to the back of Shadow and placed the belt on to Shadow's thin waist line. Zonic knew that he was purposely slowing down the process in order to have Shadow's presence a little longer before letting him go to rescue Sonic prime. When the zone cop finished putting the belt in the correct size for Shadow, he gave the unnecessary check over and over again before giving Shadow the O.K sign. Zonic stood up from his knee and gently pushed Shadow forward to signal him that he was ready to go.

"Be safe," Zonic whispered that was not meant to be heard by Shadow.

"I will," Shadow caught Zonic's murmur right away with his two sensitive ears. "Make sure you are safe here too."

~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

Sonic felt something that kept bumping on him. He didn't know what it was but the blue hedgehog could really care less at this point. He no longer felt the water on his quills. Actually, Sonic started to believe that he did not need oxygen to survive anymore.

The images of all of his friends passed by Sonic's memory one by one but what stayed the most was Shadow the hedgehog. Sonic remembered when he first met Shadow and hell, Sonic really hated that black hedgehog who was a total copy cat of him! Sonic almost wanted to kill that creature when they met from time to time. But after the Ark incident, Sonic realized the good that Shadow had inside him. Also, with the help from Tails, Sonic was able to find out why Shadow had so much hatred against mankind and why he wanted to destroy the Earth. It was never from the world domination or from being evil in his genetics, Shadow was just confused. But in the end, Shadow finally found the right path and helped Sonic to save the world, which costed his life. (Well, almost since Shadow didn't really fall into his death.)

That was what amazed the blue hedgehog the most. It's not everyday that a villain would turn himself into a hero. Shadow also helped Sonic so many times when he needed him the most and Sonic liked being around with Shadow more and more. Is this what people meant when they say that opposites attract? Sonic knew that Shadow was the total opposite of him like not having fun with his life for example but something about him that made Sonic wanting to playfully bother the black hedgehog over and over again.

'Is that when I started to have some interest in Shadow...?' Sonic asked himself. 'He's the complete opposite of me and yet, I'm so interested in him. Why...?'

Sonic's ears twitched when he heard a rather squeaky noise.

'What was that?' The blue hedgehog was too lazy to open his eyes so he waited to see what would happen.

Few seconds later, there was a bump which came from below. More noise that sounded like... a dolphin? Soon enough, Sonic was riding on something and then-

"Woah...!" Sonic was back on to the surface of the water. The blue hedgehog coughed some water out as something below him swam along the edge of the water so Sonic can land safely on to the snow.

Sonic weakly landed on the snow and gasped for air; it was like he needed to learn how to breath all over again.

"Hey there, thank you for saving my life," Sonic turned around slowly to see a purple colored dolphin that was floating while flapping his fins. The dolphin squeaked even loudly, feeling very proud that she just save someone's life.

"I can't believe I got saved by a dolphin, hehheh. This is the first... where did you come from anyways?" Sonic asked the purple dolphin. The dolphin simply made some high tone noises as he jumped up and down which caused the water to splash all over Sonic.

"Relax there~!" Sonic laughed, "Okay I guess I got lucky then, huh?"

The dolphin nodded and this caused Sonic to be surprised.

"You can understand me?" Sonic asked one more time and again, the purple dolphin nodded.

"Wow, then let me tell ya, you are one awesome dolphin!" Sonic grinned and gave a thumbs up. "Hey I need to go and search for this emerald... uh... did you happen to see anything shiny below the water?"

The dolphin tilted his head and silenced herself.

"Uh.. it's like a.. a hard diamond," Sonic tried to make the approximate size of the chaos emerald. "And it's really shiny! There are a lot of colors like blue, red, white, purple and- h-hey! Where're you going?!" Sonic yelled but the purple dolphin went back into the ocean.

"Heh, guess I talked too much," Sonic shrugged. Then Sonic heard something extremely loud as he turned around. It was really big. A huge blizzard storm that resembled a tsunami was rushing towards Sonic. The temperature dropped down even more and this made Sonic shiver even more especially since he just came out from the freezing water.

"Great, this isn't going to end well," Sonic murmured to himself. He now knew why the dolphin swam away from him. Sonic tried to run but his legs were still frozen from his water trip.

"You got to be kidding me!" Sonic yelled but the leg muscles failed to move fast enough for him to run away from the approaching storm. The blue hedgehog closed his eyes and waited for the worst. He survived the icy water of doom, maybe he would be lucky enough to make it alive in this storm as well.

Meanwhile, back in No Zone prison cell, Shadow used Zonic's device and opened the portal to another world called Cheimon. Before Shadow entered the world, he made sure he had everything he needed. He had the belt that held Zonic's dimensional gun on to his slim waist, the pocket that had the pill in order to help with the body temperature which was for Sonic and a purple chaos emerald hidden inside of his back quill just in case he needed some extra chao power.

"Good luck, Shadow the hedgehog," Zonic waved him a one last goodbye. Shadow gave a small nod and then quickly jumped into the portal. The black hedgehog was surprised at how easy it was to travel to another world with Zonic's gun. It was exactly like chaos control except for it was a lot easier if you ask Shadow.

As soon as Shadow entered the portal, his rocket shoes were covered in clean white snow. The icy wind wrapped itself around Shadow and some snow flakes started to cover some of Shadow's back quills as well. Shadow shook his head but it was no use because of the gentle blizzard.

"It is a little cold in this place," Shadow murmured. Even though Shadow could tell that the weather was a little chilly but it was not cold enough to bother the ultimate life form. Shadow looked around and the first thing that caught his attention was the massive snow storm that was heading towards him. The black hedgehog's quill swayed in the wind and at the same time, he felt something different moving on the bottom of his leg.

It was the piece of fabric bandage that Sonic used to treat the injured leg back in their world. Shadow touched the blowing bandage and even though he knew that his leg was perfectly healed by now, he decided to keep it as a good luck in order to find Sonic.

"I just hope he's not in that mess..." Shadow was about to turn around and skate to the opposite direction but something stopped him. His instinct told him that Sonic actually might be near that snow storm since he is known to be very hyperactive and loves to take risks. Shadow sighed and prayed that his instinct would be correct as he skated to the raging snow storm.

* * *

**_You guys didn't expect Sonic to be saved by a cute dolphine right? haha_**

**_ Shadow is going to do the saving in the next chapter for sure!_**


	10. Shadow Finds Lifeless Sonic

**A thought came to me: I think some of my readers are.. are psychic! Some of you guys can predict so well regarding the plot of the story! Woah!**

**Anyways long thank you review will be sent out shortly :3**

* * *

Sonic held his breath to make sure the snow wouldn't choke him to death. The blue hedgehog had a hard time knowing where he was going since he seemed to be right in the middle of the snow storm. No only that but Sonic also had to be careful to make sure he was not walking over the thin ice just like how he did before. He didn't want to risk of drowning for the second time.

"I-I knew it! T-this i-i-isn't going to end..end well..!" Sonic yelled in rage and was completely pissed off at the situation he was in. His teeth kept chattering because of the coldness. The blizzard was getting stronger and stronger to the point where Sonic started to feel the ice shard digging through his arms and legs. The chilly sensation crept up from Sonic's spine to the top of large quills.

'This snow is too deep. I can't even run anymore,' Sonic felt like his legs would break any seconds. Sonic couldn't even see his shoes anymore since the snow was up to his knee. He felt some melted snow inside of his running shoes as well which made the situation more annoying. He was also sick of hearing the sound of snow bothering his ears. Not to mention Sonic's wet body from the pervious incident didn't help with his current event which made the poor hedgehog colder.

Few moments later, Sonic gave up walking and sat down on the snow while rubbing himself with his hands. The blue hedgeohg looked up and even the sun that was there when he first arrived to this world with Zhadow was no longer there anymore.

'I'm cold...' Sonic stated the obvious and stopped rubbing his hands. He then covered both of his two blue ears with his hands to make himself more comfortable. It felt nice having something warm because his ears were freezing to death. Sonic tried to stand up again but he swayed side to side before falling harshly to the floor with his face flat on to the snow.

'Hehheh, you know this feels pretty nice,' Sonic thought to himself as he gently closed his eyes. He knew that he was losing his mind. The blue hedgehog kept telling himself that his body was giving up on him but he just didn't care. He gathered some snow with his hands and stared at it with his hopes slowly fading as time passed by.

'It's not like I can run through this blizzard anyways,' Sonic reminded himself. He was just there with his face still flat on the snow while letting the blizzard consume him more and more. Sonic felt the heavy weight of the snow building on top of his back quills but he didn't even shiver at the contact. He shifted his head a little to the side so the snow wouldn't be bothering his mouth anymore but now his left ear was burried deep under the snow.

'I miss my friends...' thought Sonic with his eyes still closed. 'I wonder if Amy is still made at me. Would Cream and Cheese be worried about me? What about Tails?! I hope he's finally off from that hospital since he hates hospital food. I bet Knuckles is going to kill me if I ever make this situation alive. What hapened to Zonic and Zhadow...?' Then before Sonic fell unconscious, the last friend he thought about was the black hedgeog. 'I wonder if Shadow is going to be pissed because I caused more problems. I mean, I did promise that guy that he wouldn't regret his decision for letting me tag along with him. I can just imagine him getting all made at me...' Sonic smiled and decided to take a dangerous nap. A very long nap that he hopes to wake up later when the snow storm alleviates.

The the snow became a huge blanket and covered the blue hedgehog completely.

* * *

'How am I supposed to see through this storm?!' Shadow had to stop skating in order to conserve his energy as much as possible. The black hedgehog knew that he would not die in coldness since his body is capable of withstanding a harsh temperature in the environment, but that didn't exclude the possibility of his body to suddenly malfunction. Shadow wiped the snow out of his face and looked around to see the mess that he was in. The whole surrouding looked completely blue and the sky even looked darker than before. It was difficult to tell if it was day or the night time.

'At this rate, my legs might stop moving for a while,' Shadow rolled his eyes. 'This must be the storm that the zone cop told me about eariler.'

Shadow let out a louder sigh when he noticed that the snow was increased more every second.

'I never thought I would see myself shaking because of the wheather,' Shadow frowned when he noticed that it was hard to keep himself shaking. The hands shook violently and his legs grew weaker. Shadow could feel that it was nearly impossible to move his fingers because of the coldness and the same went for his ears. Then a realization hit the ultimate life form hard.

'If I think this blizzare is this cold... how is he going to survive this?' Shadow's mind raced as he tried to reason with himself. Sure, Sonic is the hero with tons of dangerous experiences and he sure does have the speed but that did not meant he was immortal like Shadow himself. Sonic the hedgehog was amazing but he was also a normal living being. Now then Shadow thought about it more, it would be impossible for Sonic's body to tolerate this kind of blizzard.

'He would be smart enough to find shelter, right?' Shadow asked himself. The black hedgehog looked at his arms and noticed that there were cuts and bruises everywhere from the ice shards that the blizzard threw at him.

'But when if he didn't find a shelter? Is it even possible to find a place to avoid this storm?' Shadow's mind raced through endless possibilities that Sonic could have been at this exact moment.

'Maybe I should turn around and search for him on the other side where the blizzard isn't coming from,' Shadow looked back. 'But what if that idiot _is_ trapped in there. What if he is in trouble?'

_Shadow! Please...please help me!_

The last sentence that Sonic yelled to Shadow echoed in his head over and over again. Shadow's eyes searched rapidly though the snowy environment as he thought about the logical probability of Sonic's survival. The sound of the noisy blizzard suddenly became silent only in black hedgehog's ears when he focused his mind more towards Sonic than himself. The place was also very huge and although Shadow had the speed and the power of the emerald, how likely was it for him to find a lost blue hedgehog? This was when Shadow started to panic for the first time. He thought he would never get this kind of feeling. His heart beat increased and red eyes were no longer focused because his mind was some place else thinking about Sonic's safety. All the horrible incidents that the blue hedgehog could be in crossed through Shadow's mind as the black hedgehog gritted his teeth in anger and started his rocket shoes to skate again through the snow storm.

"SONIC!" Shadow finally yelled the name of the hegehog that he didn't say ever since they started this journey. "Sonic! You better be alive or I'm going to kill you twice when I see your corpse!' Shadw growled, hoping that Sonic would hear his voice through this mad blizzard.

After few moments of skating untill the last bit of energy was used, it was hard for Shadow to move any faster. He had snows inside his ear and his body was literally covered with cuts and wounds. The holes under Shadow's rocket shoes were a little harder to activate since snows kept digging into them again and again. But the only thing that was on Shadow's mind was Sonic.

'He better be fine or I'm going to- hold on.. is that a chaos emerald I sense?' Shadow stopped skating and looked around. He felt his body responding to the chaos energy as the image of the yellow chaos emerald flash in front of him. Shadow didn't take any chances as he took out the purple emerald from his back quill. He hoped that Sonic might be near where the chaos emerald was located since it was possible for Sonic to sense the chaos energy just like him.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow lifted the emerald in to the air. Bright purple light started to glow and few seconds later, the black hedgehog was covered in bright purple light as he was warped into the location where he sense another chaos emerald. In a quick second, Shadow landed on another area but it was even worse. The blizzard was a lot stronger than before and the snow was almost up to his knee.

"It should be here somewhere," Shadow talked to himself. But even if the black hedgehog can sense the yellow emerald, that does not mean he can locate the exact spot where the emerald was hidden. It would take a while for the black hedgehog to discover the item since his eyes had trouble seeing. Shadow shivered and decided to cover his mouth with one of his hand to prevent any small pieces of ice shard coming into his mouth. Shadow wished he had the power to control his body temperature as well. That would have been a nice skill to be created with in the first place.

Just then, Shadow spotted something blue that stuck out from the white snow.

"A blue chaos emerald?" Shadow narrowed his eyes, "It should be a yellow emerald that I sensed how can..."

Then the black hedgehog's eyes opened widely.

"SONIC!?" Shadow shouted as he skated right next to the lifeless blue being. Shadow had a hard time moving his fingers as he dug up the snow in order to have a better look at what this was. In the back of his mind, the black hedgeog hoped that this was not Sonic and it was just something else. After brushing off all the snow, the blue object that Shadow managed to spot turned out to be a tail.

'This can't be him,' the ultimate lifeform observed the body that was in front of him.

Shadow was dead wrong.

Sonic's whole body color was a lot darker than his original blue color. His tail was frozen like a popsicle and his face was covered flat on to the snow. Shadow tapped Sonic a little to see if he was just playing dead or kidding around. The ultimate life form almost wished to hear one of Sonic's banter right at this moment but of course, Sonic didn't even move a little muscle. It was amost as if he was dead.

"Hey... hey! Wake up!" Shadow shook Sonic. The black hedgehog turned Sonic's body over and gasped when he noticed that even Sonic's face, which was normally a brightly peach color, was also blue. Both of his eyes were folded back and his quills were all scratched up. Sonic's left ear had snow all over and his mouth was slightly opened as if he still made an effort to breath while half of his face was slightly in the snow. Sonic looked like a corpse and this scared Shadow. The site scared him a lot.

"Sonic the hedgehog! You better wake up right now!" Shadow gently slapped Sonic on his cheek which quickly made a small red spot, "Stop being lazy and sleeping around! We have to get out of here!"

Sonic didn't move.

"Faker! Stop joking around! This isn't funny!" Shadow gritted his teeth in worry. He never thought he would see Sonic in this poor state. How long was this hedgehog buried in snow? Shadow stopped shaking Sonic. He thought it would be best to take Sonic back to No Zone in order for Zonic to treat him more properly. The black hedgehog took out the dimensional gun from his waist and tried to activate it to make another portal. Shadow pulled the trigger with other hand tightly while he gripped on to the lifeless hedgehog but nothing happened.

'Damn... Don't tell me this blizzard is really interfering with this device,' Shadow cursed under his breath. He then took out the purple chaos emerald and tried to get away from the blizzard as far as possible. It wouldn't be possible for Shadow to chaos control both of them back to No Zone with just one emerald but he would be able to wrap both of them into another location within this dimension. After a quick glance at Sonic, Shadow chanted the word.

"Chaos Control!"

The chaos emerald that was on his right hand was glowing but this time someting was wrong. Shadow noticed that instead of the purple emerald releasing its chaos energy to perform chaos control, the purple gem was actually absorbing chaos energy directly from Shadow. The gem started to warm up in Shadow's hand and instantly, the burning sensation soaked on to his skin.

"What the...?!" Shadow suddenly felt listless and dizzy as he shook his head a little. The blizzard also affected the function of the chaos emerald as well. Shadow quickly stopped the effect and panted a little because of the sudden energy drain. He made sure the negative effect of the chaos emerald didn't harm Sonic in any way.

"This is all your fault, Faker," Shadow said it out loud but at the same time, his red eyes caught Sonic's ear twitching a little.

"I... I'm... I'm not a faker..." Sonic laughed quietly as his mouth turned into a little smile but the laughter was more like a cough if you asked Shadow.

"Sonic!" Shadow quickly paid attention to the blue hedgehog, "How are you feeling?"

"...A-are you... Zhadow...?" Sonic opened his eyes a little and an image of the black hedgehog right on top of him started to become more clear.

"Were you hoping for him to pick you up?" Shadow said with a hint of sarcasm. Shadow almost felt a small relief when he heard Sonic talking.

"No... I thought... w-well... you know... you hardly say.. say my name so I thought it wasn't y-you, Shadow. Sorry about that."

Shadow didn't know why but Sonic's explanation hurt him a little. But he couldn't blame the blue hedgehog because what Sonic said was in fact the truth.

"Well, you also know that Zhadow doesn't call you Faker so there," Shadow replied like a child and touched Sonic's cheek. "How long were you here?" his voice softened.

"Hey.. what's important is that you found me," Sonic said in a hoarse voice and snuggled into Shadow's body for warmth. Even a small warmth was a great happiness for Sonic at this time and he didn't want this joy to end soon.

"I tried to use chaos control but it's not working. I'm just going to hold you and skate away from this damn blizzard. Hold on tight," Shadow warned Sonic as he lifted him up gently. Just then, Sonic struggled a little to free himself away from Shadow and this surprised the black hedgehog. Where was that sudden burst energy coming from?

"What are you doing?!" Shadow was frustrated with Sonic's action. If this blue hedgehog stayed any loner in this mad storm, he would literally die.

"N-No! We..we have to stay here!" Sonic finally opened his eyes fully and move around even more.

"Are you crazy?!" Shadow also raised his voice equally to Sonic's, "I hope you didn't lose some brain cells in this snow. If you haven't notice, your body temperature is going down! You can't stay here any longer!"

"But I can sense the chaos emerald!" Sonic pleaded. "I don't want you to me pissed off because I got you into this mess!"

"...What..?"

"Just h-hear me out," Sonic coughed and Shadow realized that he had a sore throat. "I can sense the chaos emerald here. We can't leave untill we find it! If we don't then... it was just a waste of your time!" Sonic finally freed himself from Shadow's arms but he fell on to his knee instantly. Sonic still couldn't balance himself properly.

Shadow narrowed his eyes in front of Sonic and processed the information that was just given to him. The blue hedgehog just stood there shivering madly, waiting for Shadow to say something.

"..I didn't come here and wasted my time since I found you," Shadow reasoned with Sonic. "We have you get you out of here. Look at yourself! Your shaking too much and you don't even sound like yourself anymore. The cuts that you have on your skin could get infected if you don't get treated properly."

"S-sorry pal," Sonic shievered and looked around to find the emerald that he also sense just like Shadow, "I'm not leaving until I get you that chaos emerald."

"Stop behaving like a child, Faker!" Shadow reached out and grabbed Sonic by the wrist. Shadow was shocked at how cold Sonic was. It was like touching a raw dry ice! "You are coming with me and we are going to get away from this storm. We can come back when the blizzard aubsides."

Sonic bits his lips everytme when he heard the name, Faker. The blue hero knew that Shadow used that word when he was upset or just mad at Sonic.

"If w-we just leave this area now, Zhadow might find the chaos emerald before we do!" Sonic roughly released his hand from Shadow's touch and bent down on the floor and tried to dig it a little in order to see if the chaos emerald under. Shadow couldn't let Sonic hurt his hands because it was obvious that even touching the snow in a low temperature would do more harm than any good. The snow was no longer soft anymore; instead, they were like bundle of needles. The black hedgehog grabbed both of Sonic's hands in order to stop him from digging into the snow any further.

"Why were you separated with Zhadow?" Shadow started to rub Sonic's hands with his to create some heat friction. Sonic just gave a dazed look to Shadow's hands that kept Sonic's hands warm just a little.

"That's not important," Sonic coughed, "I know that creep is s-still here and he's looking for the emerald just..just like you and me."

"He can have the emerald!" snapped Shadow as he blew some of his warm breath on to Sonic's hands. "Aren't you worried about your condition? Your color is darker than before and your arms are completely blue as well!" Shadow started to lose his patience.

"Oh good! I always wanted my quills t-to have a little darker shades of blue, OW! W-what was that for?!" Sobic rubbed the top of his head.

"That is for acting absurd in this kind of situation," Shadow pinched the skin between his eyes and shook his head.

"Well unlike you S-Shadow, I don't want Zhadow to find that emerald first. I bet he's lurking around here too at this moment," Sonic said in a rather pissed under his breath. Shadow never thought he would see the day when this optimistic hedgehog would sound so angry. Too bad for Sonic, Zhadow didn't have the power to locate the emerald properly and on top of that, the ex-zone cop was not this zone anymore.

"Did something happen between you and Zha-"

"Nothing happend okay?!" Sonic raised both hands in the air, "Just... nothing special happend. Damn...help me to find that emerald!"

Shadow blinked few times and his mind went blank at the bizzare scene that was displayed. Did Sonic, the blue hero known to be kind and always doing the right thing, used an inappropriate language? That was a huge surprise even to Shadow. This made him more curious about what could have happened while he and Zonic were together.

'Guess he's not in the mood to discuss that,' Shadow noted.

"Fine you win. But we can't search the emeald in this condition," Shadow stopped Sonic from his search, "We will wait around here untill the storm stop in order continue. If Zhadow comes near our permater, then I'll take care of him."

Sonic bit his lips when he heard Zhadow's name but tried to keep his cool, "No way Shadow. I'm not going to let you all the fun with that guy! He's mine when I see him next time!" Sonic replied with a angry tone.

'Something definately hapened between those two,' Shadow decided to keep this comment to himself while he scanned the blue hedgehog. He thought it was weird to see Sonic so pissed off with another person. Shadow had to admit, he did some pretty horrible stuff when they first met like giving some insults to Sonic, beating him up physically every time when he had the chance during their battles and even ignoring him when Shadow didn't felt like dealing with the blue's nonsense. But Sonic never expressed his anger to Shadow like how he was doing to Zhadow right now. Sure, the blue hedgehog had some nasty counter with his wordings that caused Shadow to curse Sonic but Sonic's comments always came with any combination of a laughter or a smile. Shadow thought Sonic would always joke with his enemies but never truly get made at them. But Shadow thought he was wrong all this time.

"I never thought I would see the day when you're so frustrated about someone," Shadow said quietly but of course, Sonic didn't catch that sentence.

"Come again?" asked Sonic.

"Never mind," Shadow shook his head, "Look, if we want to stay here until the blizzard alleviates and at the same time guard this location so Zhadow wouldn't find our chaos emerald first, we need to stay underground. It would make a good hiding spot and a shelter," Shadow turned around to see that Sonic was about to lose his counsciouness.

"Don't you dare-" Shadow pulled one of Sonic's ear which felt like an ice shard, "fall asleep on me."

"Owowowowow! Okay okay!" Sonic slapped Shadow's hand away from his poor ear, "I'm awake! Was that really necessary?!"

"Okay then, tell me what I just said to you," Shadow crossed his arms.

Sonic opened his mouth to say anything smart back to Shadow but his mind drew a huge blank; the blue hedgehog shut his mouth again and rubbed his arms. Either Sonic was cold or he felt ashamed that he didn't listen to his rival.

Shadow face palmed himself before repeating himself, "I said we need to stay underground if we want to avoid getting more damanged in this snow. We can also watch out for Zhadow because if we are below, we should be able to hear his footsteps right above us."

"Sounds like a plan," Sonic jumped, "Leave that to me!"

The blue hedgehog cured himself into a ball and placed himself into a position to start his spin dash. When Sonic was ready, he tried to roll as fast as possible and turn himself into a blue spiky ball but instead, something different happened. Instead of spining like a mad race car's wheel, Sonic only rolled once and landed flat on his bottom on the icy snow.

Sonic sat there, blinking several times while processing the event that just happened.

"What was that?" Shadow asked unamused.

"Uh...I guess my muscles are a lot stiffer than I thought," Sonic smiled weakly and tried to perform his spin dash one more time. But Shadow pushed Sonic away. Deep inside, Shadow knew that he should be thankful that Sonic was still this active even after his long exposure to this blizzard.

"Move aside," said Shadow as he also turned himself into a spinning ball. In a second, Shadow started to attack the snow and went deeper and deeper to make a tunnel. The black hedgehog wanted to dig until he was satisfied with the space that can hold two hedgehogs underneath.

"Nice going,Shadow," Sonic whistled and sneezed a little later. Sonic couldn't lie to himself, he was really weary and felt like his body was going to give up any second. The hero no longer felt any type of sensation in his feet anymore and his fingers were so numb, it was extremely difficult to move them for few centimeters. Not to mention, Sonic could swear that there were snow inside his ears as well.

'This should be enough,' Shadow decided to stop spin-digging and jumped out from the hole that he created.

"This should be good," Shadow said to Sonic. "Let's go inside."

The ultimat life form jumped into the tunnel on the ground and Sonic, after looking around the blizzard to see if he can spot any sign of Zhadow, Sonic also followed Shadow right after. Once the two hedgehogs were inside, Shadow took some snow from the floor and decided to plug the entrance hole on the top in order to prevent any more cold wind coming in to their little shelter.

"This is great but..." Sonic yawned, "Don't you think it's a little dark in here?"

"Afraid of the dark?" Shadow smirked and teased a little. He expected Sonic to banter back but Sonic was too tired for that.

"No just... it would be nice to see some lights, you know?"

Wanting to accomodate Sonic in his tired body as much as possible, Shadow then took out the purple chaos emerald from his quills.

'If I use too much chaos energy, then this emerald is going to backfire because of this cryptic snowstorm,' Shadow analyzed the purple gem. He then carefully added a little energy to the emerald and slowly, a small spark of purple light emitted. When Shadow placed just a little more chaos energy into the emerald, soon enough the chaos emerald acted like a small nigt lamp.

"Here's your bed lamp," said Shadow as he placed the glowing chaos emerald in the middle of the where he and Sonic was. But when the black hedgehog turned around, he noticed that Sonic's eyes were closed and he was laying side ways.

"You can't sleep here, your body is going to shut down," Shadow gently shook Sonic. Shadow could see Sonic's ear twitching but he still didn't respond to his voice. Shadow wondered if it was illegal to punish someone with his chaos spear in his sleep for failing to cooperate. He planned to wake up Sonic so he can take the oral medication that Zonic gave to him. But Sonic just looked too peaceful. His face muscle completely relaxed and Shadow smiled a little when he saw Sonic's stomach rising and falling. These images helped Shadow to get rid of his previous thought about Sonic dying in the snow.

'Maybe I can let him sleep for few minutes,' thought Shadow as he moved a little closer to the sleeping hedgehog next to him. He was glad that Sonic's muzzle and arms started to return to their original peach color. Just to make sure Sonic wouldn't get too cold while he slept, Shadow made a small body contact with his rival, hoping that Sonic would appreciate some small body heat.

"I'll wake you up in a few minutes," Shadow murmured, "You look too peaceful right now, Sonic," the ultimate life form rolled his eyes as he rubbed Sonic's hands to keep them warm in his sleep.

* * *

"Were you able to find another chaos emerald?" the voice came out from the small device that was clipped on to the black hedgehog's ear.

"The blizzard was approaching so I had to retreat. I plan to go back there once things clear out, though," Zhadow answered as he searched for the cell that Scourge was in.

"I expected you to just search through the snow, how pathetic..."

"Look, I am trying to accomodate you as much as possible," Zhadow hissed. "Just for your record, I'm not a complete ultimate life form. I could die in that mess too."

"Like I said, pathetic."

"I could say that to you as well," Zhadow finally found the cell that the green hedgehog was in. Scourge was currently sleeping in the corner who was tired from the previous event with Shadow and Zonic. "You were only able to find one emerald which is very-...!' Zhadow noticed an approaching shadow behind him as he quickly jumped away in the opposite direction.

"I'll contact you later, Mephiles," Zhadow whispered in an angry tone and turned off the device. "Sneak attack was always your favorite method, right Zonic?" Zhadow smirked and stood up from the floor.

Zonic tried to launch another low kick to Zhadow but the black hedgehog quickly evaded the attack too easily.

"I'm not going to let you go this time, Zhadow," said Zonic as he walked closer to Zhadow.

"I'm always looking forward to what you'll do to me," Zhadow gave a dark grin, "Chaos Spear!"

Zonic focused his eyes onto Zhadow's incoming attack. He was not going to let Zhadow get away with him this time.

'Zhadow is not your lover anymore, Zonic,' the zone cop took out the chaos collar control, 'He's just an ordinary criminal waiting to be caught.'

Meanwhile, in another dimensional, Mephiles cursed under his breath when Zhadow disconnected with him in the middle of his sentence. Mephiles thought he needs to punish the ex-zone cop for ruthlessly talking back to him but what can he expect? After all, Zhadow was now part of the enemy circle now and Mephiles didn't want any cheerful villain in his team. Mephiles also thought about the time when he had to work with Blaze and Silver few years back and even though he didn't show or express any type of emotion on the outside of his face, Mephiles hated every second of spending his precious time with them. Now only did Blaze and Silver never completed their task like they were supposed to, they betrayed him towards the end and teamed up with Sonic and Shadow.

Shadow...

The dark aura was instantly created as Mephiles thought about the ultimate life form. Few seconds later, he started to laugh loudly as the voice echoed out into nowhere.

'Oh Shadow... I can't wait until I meet you again. You will pay for destroying my plan and for trying to kill in the last incident. Not to mention I still didn't return the favor when you locked me away in the Scepter of Darkness when we first met.' Mephiles took out the white emerald where he was able to see his own reflection. He hated it because he looked just like Shadow. 'Perhaps I should give Zhadow a little hand. It's not like I expected him to complete his task without any flaws.'

The dark hedgehog waved his hand in order to open another portal what will lead him to No Zone. Mephiles never needed to use chaos control in the first place because he was able to open portals and allow himself to travel. But the chaos emerald were pretty important to him when he wanted his army of clones to be perfect or just to drain chaos energy from the emerald itself. When the dark hedgehog entered the portal, he was right in the middle of the battle between Zhadow and Zonic. Of course, both of the hedgehogs stopped their motion right away when they saw who came into their battle field.

"Mephiles?" Zhadow narrowed his eyes, "What in the world are you doing here?"

Zonic stood up from his feet and quickly got himself in the battle position. 'So, that's Mephiles? The one Sonic prime and Shadow told me about?'

"It seems that I interrupted a little game between you too," Mephiles gently bowed his head, "However, it would be nice if we can just get on with the main business here."

"What are you talking about?" Zonic frowned but deep inside, he was a little scared as well. Two enemies, not to mention the ones that both look like Shadow the hedgehog, were standing right in front of him with their cold looks on their eyes. Zonic bit his lips, realizing how dangerous his situation was. Would it be a good idea to call the backups right now? But he didn't want any of the other zone cops getting harmed as well since this was mainly his business and his alone.

"Either you give us the chaos emerald-" Zhadow started but was interrupted by Mephiles.

"Or you can tell me where Shadow is. You can do one or the other, Zonic."

Zonic slowly lowered his guard when he saw Mephiles and Shadow acting as if they were working together for such a long period of time. Zonic's emerald eyes searched though any hints of doubts or confusion in Zhadow's eyes but there was nothing. The only eyes that Zonic saw were callous.

"Zhadow, I don't understand," Zonic broke down a little as he continued, "Fine, you can leave your duty as zone cop or even me but how can you partner up with Mephiles?! Don't you know who are working for right now?"

"..." There was just blank look on Zhadow's face but he also didn't respond as well.

"Zhadow! How low can you get?!' Zonic raised his voice to the point where he was nearly yelling.

"Zonic... I-"

"Enough with the talk," Mephiles had enough waiting. He then quickly released his dark energy spear on to the jail cell that Scourge was in. The green hedgehog work up as soon as the heavy bar metals broke into little pieces. Scourge just grinned as he slowly walked out from his messy cell.

"So this is who you were working for, Zhadow," Scourge smirked and observed Mephiles over and over again. "I'm meeting a lot of hedgehogs that look like you today! I like it," Scourge winked at Zhadow and the ex-zone cop just looked away with disgust.

Zonic started to back away, feeling weakness in both his arms and legs while Zhadow and Scourge slowly approached him.

"I'm sure someone as smart as yourself wouldn't put yourself into a pity danger," Mephiles' eyes narrowed, "Just tell me where Shadow is and we can simply walk away as if nothing happened."

The elite zone cop realized that he was the only one that knew where Shadow was at this moment. Zhadow probably didn't get the idea that Shadow went after Sonic so as long as Scourge kept his mouth shut all the way then Shadow would be safe. The zone cop could feel the blood rushing through his head as his quills stood up because of the sign of impending danger. He could feel his hands stuttering and even his own breathing became slightly noticeable.

'I can't let them know where Shadow is...' Zonic trailed off when the image of the ultimate life form crossed his mind. "There is no way I would tell where Shadow is!" Zonic stated firmly and in a split second, he was attacked by Zhadow who easily pinned him to the floor.

"Then I guess we would have to do this in a little forceful manner," Mephiles laughed as he prepared himself to release some damage on to Zonic.

"By the way, I didn't leave you, Zonic," Zhadow leaned down and whispered into Zonic's ear, "_You_ are the one that betrayed me!"

"...?!" Zonic blinked couple of times feeling more perplexed than before. What in the world was Zhadow talking about? He was the one that suddenly decided to leave No Zone out of the blue! "Is something wrong with you?" Zonic growled underneath Zhadow, "What are you talking about?! I would never betray anyone _especially_ someone that I had a relationshi-"

Just then, Zonic was punched in the face with Scourge and Mephiles' dark laughter ringing through his ear.

'I hope Shadow and Sonic prime are having a better experience than this...' Zonic thought as he thought about the last sentence that escaped Zhadow's lips.


	11. What's So Special About First Kiss?

**Hello everyone here is the next chapter! **

**I'm sorry to say that I won't be able to reply back to lovely reviewers today T_T don't throw rocks please! DX**

**Even though Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 never happened because of the paradox, for this story I am stating that Sonic and Shadow _still remember_ the event even though it never happened.. okie dokie? **

* * *

"You really are easy to fool, Sonic prime," Zhadow smirked as he crawled on top of sleeping Sonic. The blue hedgehog sensed a little danger as he opened his eyes to witness a black hedgehog wearing a zone cop uniform without a helmet on.

"Z-Zhadow?!" Sonic shouted and tried to stand up but his hands and legs were not moving properly. "What the..?!"

"Chaos bind," Zhadow replied while eyeing his prey below him, "One of my favorite attack if you ask me. That is... aside from chaos spear."

"How did you get in here?! Where is Shadow?!" Sonic struggled to move but the chaos energy restricted any further movement. Sonic told himself that it is never a good idea to show fear in front of your enemy so he tried to control his hidden apprehension.

"Shadow was never here from the beginning," Zhadow gave out a dark chuckle and traced his index finger along the side of Sonic's restrained arms.

"It was me from the beginning. I am a good actor, don't you think Sonic prime?"

"Stop joking around!" Sonic gritted his teeth to control his temper. It was not possible that Sonic was fooled so easily by Zhadow, right? The blue hero was positive that it was Shadow who he found him under the snow.

"How do you explain this situation then?" Zhadow leaned in closer, "Look around Sonic prime, your boy friend is not here to help you."

"He is not my boy friend!" Sonic exclaimed and narrowed his eyes even more, "Did any of your friends ever tell you that you have a sick mind?"

"Keep talking because the only fool here is you. I have the total control and you Sonic prime," Zhadow pointed directly at the blue hedgehog, "are helpless. Just admit that your situation is hopeless right now."

"You can beat me how ever you want, I'm not going to tell you where the emerald is," said Sonic in a cocky tone as usual. He knew that Zhadow was also searching for the emerald for his own crazy purpose.

"I can beat until you bleed but..." Zhadow thought for a few second and a cynical smile slowly appeared which scared Sonic. Sonic seriously thought Zhadow was a lot scarier than a pissed off Super Shadow. "There is another way to make you bleed."

Sonic gave a confused look in his face and tried to figure out what Zhadow meant on his last sentence. The blue hero eyed the ex-zone cop's hand movement to see where he was going with his little plan. Zhadow placed both of his hands tightly just above Sonic's red running shoes and gently lifted them few degrees in to the air. Sonic's emerald pupil went small as he finally understood what Zhadow meant when he would make him bleed.

"You creep!" Sonic struggled below Zhadow, "Y-You better have not any perverted thought!"

"Don't worry, maybe after this, you can talk to Shadow which position you prefer the best, front or behind."

Sonic could feel blood rushing into his head as his quills stood up straight into the air in defense. But this didn't really do any good since all of his quills were on the opposite side of Zhadow.

"Should I play around first or just get straight to the point?" asked Zhadow while his hands were still on both of Sonic's leg.

"You are not going to do anything!" Sonic explained and just wanted to die at this moment, "Just act like a normal villain! Release me and we'll fight! Or.. anything but this!"

"You really are a lot harder to tame then I thought..." Zhadow trailed off as he started to spread the blue hedgehog's leg little by little.

"Hey, hey! Stop it! Really this isn't funny!" Sonic was desperate and he would do anything to make Zhadow stop from going any further. Sonic could feel his whole body shaking madly and he no longer felt cold from the snow anymore since his sweat practically melted off any frozen spots he had on his quills and tail.

"If your nervous, I can help you a little. I'm not that callous then you think," said Zhadow as his grips on Sonic became tighter. Sonic could feel his eyes tearing up again because this situation was so totally unfair for him! He was literally tied up with Zhadow's stupid effect and was in a vulnerable position.

Sonic hated when he was in his most vulnerable position especially in front of the enemy that he despised the most.

After staring at his helpless victum for a few moment, Zhadow's eyes then moved onto Sonic's mouth but the blue hedgehog moved his head to the side in order to avoid Zhadow's second kiss.

"You're no fun," Zhadow pulled away but still kept his hands on Sonic's legs.

"If I have my hands untied, I swear I'm going to kill you right here and right now!" Sonic's face was a little red.

"But they are not untied so too bad for you, Sonic prime," Zhadow replied, "Perhaps if I make you feel a little spark of pleasure, you would comply with me."

Sonic did not like where this was going.

Hell, he didn't even want to think about what was going to happen between them few moments later.

Sonic could see Zhadow slowly approaching closer and closer and-

"STOP IT ZHADOW! KEEP YOURSELF AWAY FROM ME!" Sonic violently moved his hands and legs as he tried to hit Zhadow. But it turned out that this movement caused the blue hero to land some heavy kicks to Shadow's stomach and hands.

"Will you wake up?!" Shadow tried to grab Sonic's arms and calm him down but Sonic managed to break free from Shadow and gave some scratches to the black hedgehog.

"IF YOU TOUCH ME AGAIN ZHADOW THEN I'M GONNA-"

"SONIC IT'S ME! OPEN YOUR DAMN EYES!" Shadow yelled to the top of his lungs.

Then Sonic finally opened his eyes and stared at black hedgehog who was no wearing any uniform.

"W-Why aren't you calling me Sonic prime?" asked Sonic with lazy eyes with a small hint of tear mark on the corner.

"Because I'm Shadow," the black hedgehog lowered his tone. It took a lot of self control for Shadow to not kill the blue hedgehog at this moment.

"Shadow... uh... where is Zhadow..?" Sonic frantically looked around with his breathing uneven but his focus went back to Shadow soon after.

"What are you talking about? You fell asleep as soon as when we came into this shelter! I needed to wake you up because you need to take this medicine that Zonic gave me." Shadow took out the small pill from the bag and handed to Sonic.

"I was sleeping..?" Sonic had a little skeptical voice in this tone.

"Yes Faker, you were sleeping," answered Shadow. The black hedgehog purposely used the word Faker to let Sonic know that he was not Zhadow who obviously didn't know the name that was only used between Shadow and Sonic.

"Right, hehheh... sorry guess I had a weird dream," Sonic chuckled and tired to keep his panting under control. Sonic took the pill from Shadow and observed it a little by playing it around between his gloved fingers.

"It's supposed to keep your body temperature warm for several hours," Shadow explained while he gazed at the purple emerald.

"Cool, I can always count on Zonic," said Sonic. "Did you take one before you came to pick me up?" Sonic asked before he placed the pill into his mouth and swallowed it.

"I already did," Shadow quickly answered. Shadow thought if he told the truth to Sonic then the blue hedgehog would rant about how unfair it is for him to take the medicine while Shadow didn' was not in the mood to go over yet another argument especially after Sonic's strange dream. Sonic carefully raised his eye to look at Shadow who was rubbing his arms and legs.

"Hey, uh.. did I do that?" Sonic pointed at where Shadow was rubbing but Shadow decided to ignore the question. The bruises were in fact from Sonic when he was kicking and punching in his dream state.

'But it's not like he did this on purpose. I'll let him slide,' Shadow thought.

"That must have been some nightmare," Shadow broke the silence and Sonic perked his ears right away.

"Haha... yeah. I get this same nightmare once in a while."

"You dream about Zhadow once in a while?" Shadow corrected Sonic.

'Did I say his name too?!' Sonic frowned and wanted to hit himself for being so stupid.

"Guess you heard then," Sonic scratched his ear and went closer to touch the purple emerald that continued to glow in the darkness.

"What happened?" asked Shadow. The black hedgehog knew that it really wasn't his business to ask what happened between Sonic and Zhadow while he and Zonic were no where in site but the curiosity was really getting to him.

"The pill? I just ate it! Didn't you see me putting into my mouth and-"

"I'm talking about your dream," Shadow pushed a little further.

When the blue hedgehog continued to touch the chaos emerald with his index finger without saying anything, Shadow also sighed deeply. Shadow tried to think about the worse case scenario but Sonic's body was way too clean for any type of attack that Zhadow could have caused him. Or did Zhadow insulted Sonic? But how bad was an insult to turn a friendly hedgehog into something complete opposite.

"I know it's not my place to ask but-"

"Then don't," Sonic cut Shadow off and the black hedgehog was appalled by this.

"This is not like you. You're not acting like yourself and-" Shadow wanted to say Sonic's actions were worrying just a tiny bit but there was no way Shadow was going to say that.

"Just give me a brief story on what happened," Shadow asked again for the second time.

Sonic finally stopped pocking the chaos emerald and directed his attention to Shadow with a slight annoyed look on his face expression.

"How do you keep this chaos emerald's light turned on like this? I would love to use this trick on Tails because he really is scared of the dark!"

Shadow just glared at Sonic with his crimson eyes.

"No really how to you keep-"

Shadow narrowed his eyes a little more.

"I mean I never thought you can do this sort of light trick with a chaos..."

Shadow crossed his arm and narrowed his eyes just a little more.

"Okay! I'll tell you! Just stop looking at me like that!" answered in defeat, "But you better not laugh!" Sonic also crossed his arms as well.

"...? Why would I laugh?" Shadow finally relaxed his eyes and tilted his head a little in confusion.

"It's a little.." Sonic thought about the image with Zhadow's lips touched his own as their body made a close contact came rushing through the blue heros' mind again. "It's just downright embarrassing!" Sonic shook his head.

Shadow didn't know why Sonic would think that he would laugh at him in the first place. Well, there was a time when he saw Sonic and Knuckles arguing about something that involved a master emerald. Sonic and Knuckles didn't know that Shadow watched them from few meters away but Sonic must have said something that upset Knuckles to the point where the blue hedgehog almost choked to death when his friend suddenly launched an attack. Shadow could clearly remember himself smiling at this.

"I won't laugh. Now just tell me what Zhadow did do you that made you so frantic."

So now all Sonic had to do was explain the most embarrassing event that happened in the history of his life as a hero. At first, Sonic thought being forced into a blind date with Amy was bad enough that was caused by Tails and Knuckles. Sonic was forced to do so many romantic stuff for Amy, which was definitely not his style, that he drove the blue hedgehog crazy! He could remember Amy asking him to sing a song for her in their first dinner date. Sonic argued but couldn't win against his pink friend. Amy asked Sonic to give her a kiss on the lips in front of the public square at midnight sharp because for some strange reason, girls thought this was romantic. There was no way Sonic was going to do that, so he instead of giving a kiss to Amy at midnight, Sonic gave a quick hug and ran in the speed of sound back to his house.

'And I thought that was bad,' Sonic blew out some sigh, 'But getting harassed by Zhadow?! That's something that I'll never forget.'

Shadow was able to see that Sonic had a little hard time starting up the conversation but the ultimate life form was planning to wait. The blizzard that was right above them was still there and he didn't hear any foot prints so Zhadow was probably no where in site as well.

'I can wait as long as you want,' Shadow frowned and placed his back on to the wall that was behind him to make himself a little comfortable.

Sonic gulped and touched the snow below him to see if the chilly feeling can distract him while he spoke. "He.. uh... took something from me, okay? There I said it!"

Then Shadow also quickly grabbed some snow from the floor that both hedgehog sat on and without even having the time to make the snow into a snowball, Shadow just threw it at Sonic's face. The snow reached the target.

"...!" Sonic brushed off the snow but few of them went inside his mouth that caused his teeth to chatter, "What was that for?!"

"You told me that you're going to tell me," Shadow tapped his finger on the icy floor, "You better keep your promise," Shadow warned and Sonic gave a weak smile.

"Okay Mr. Grumpy," Sonic rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. It was like he was going to reveal his biggest secret to his top rival. 'Shadow better not laugh or he's asking for some trouble,' Sonic thought.

"Well?" Shadow made a hand gesture to allow Sonic to continue.

"Zhadow... he... um.. how should I put this without making it sound so weird..." Sonic played around with his gloved fingers but when he Shadow signing in anger, he just blurted out the next sentence.

"He what?" Shadow frowned a little and asked again.

"Like I said he took something really really really important from me so there! End of story! Now about this emerald-"

"You can't be serious," Shadow rolled his eyes and separated himself away from the snow wall. "You expect me do move on after hearing that from you?"

"Well, I kind of did actually," said Sonic with his fingers crossed.

"Fine then. Here is my next question, what did he take from you? I don't remember you having another chaos emerald unless you were hiding it from me all this time."

"No way, why would I hide that from you?" Sonic fought back.

"Then what? It's not like he took your running shoes or your transmission device," said Shadow.

Sonic wanted to just pull his quills out and throw them at Shadow to hurt him or at least distract him from asking so many questions. Did he really had to tell him what happened between him and the ex-zone cop?

'I'm going to have some fun with Zhadow when I see him again,' Sonic marked his words.

"He took something from me but did really physically take it away you know?" Sonic explained, "But I didn't like what he gave me." Even Sonic didn't know what he was talking about and Shadow grew tired of waiting for Sonic to tell him seriously.

"You're not even making sense," Shadow mumbled and shook his heard a little.

"I don't even know why you're so suddenly interested in this!" Sonic stood up from the ground and stomped his foot in anger, "That creep tried to give me a make out session, okay?!" Sonic knew that he was probably blushing a little but he really couldn't care less. After Sonic finally that will probably make Shadow think weird about him, the blue hero turned around and face the interesting snow wall.

Shadow was surprised at what he just heard from Sonic as well. He was about to ask if Sonic was being serious but his instinct told him that his blue rival wasn't playing around. It took Shadow few seconds to fully comprehend what Sonic just told him.

"You guys did.. what?" Shadow calmly asked again.

"Geeze Shadow, don't tell me you don't know what freaking kiss means," Sonic fumed and kept his attention away from the ultimate life form.

'Did they... no way. Why in the world would Zhadow do that?" Then Shadow recalled when Zonic told him about his secret relationship with Zhadow when they were both zone cop partners.

"Did he mistaken you as Zonic?" Shadow tried to sound as casual as possible.

"Who? Zhadow?" Sonic refused to turn around to meet Shadow.

"Who else?" Shadow retorted back to Sonic.

"He clearly knew I wasn't Zonic," Sonic thought about who Zhadow tricked him into thinking that he was Shadow, "I don't even know why he did that to me."

'... I still can't believe that happened," Shadow trailed off and when the image of Sonic getting harassed by Zhadow accumulated into the ultimate lifeform's mind, Shadow could feel a little rise in heat as he tried to erase images that his mind created. It was hard imagining the hyper active blue hero acting all submissive and getting dominated but Shadow was a little ticked off that Zhadow was the one who caused this embarrassing situation to Sonic. He is Sonic's rival after all. Only he should have the privilege to mess around with Sonic... right?

"And I wanted my first kiss to be someone that I at least appreciate," Sonic said with a hit of sarcasm. The blue hedgehog wanted to do anything to get rid of this awkward atmosphere so he decided to change the mood of this topic to something more... less serious.

Shadow also picked up what Sonic tried to do but was too curious to ask his next question.

"I thought after all these years, you and the pink hedgehog might have done that a while back," Shadow asked thinking about how Amy always cling-ed onto Sonic.

"Haha very funny Shadow," Sonic finally turned around to face the dark hedgehog, "I probably kissed Amy but only in her fantasy. Too bad my first kiss will forever be known as my worst nightmare. I'm going to strangle Zhadow for that!"

"What's so great about it anyways?" asked Shadow.

"Strangling Zhadow? I mean, I remember you having a lot of fun with me when you used me as a punching bag when we first met," Sonic smirked and sat down on opposite direction of Shadow.

"I'm not referring to that," said Shadow. He was hoping that Sonic knew what he was asking because he didn't want to repeat himself with... more detail.

"What then? First kiss stuff?" Sonic said nonchalantly. "It's not that hard to say you know," Sonic chuckled. It was funny to see how uncomfortable Shadow suddenly looked in their conversation topic. Sonic didn't know why but it was fun for him see Shadow in his own awkward moment.

"Yeah," the black hedgehog just kept his focus to the purple emerald, "I heard Rouge telling me about the same thing that you just said."

"You gotta be joking right?" Sonic laughed softly at the black hedgehog who just returned him a blank expression, "Didn't your creator installed some romance hormone inside you?"

But when Shadow didn't say anything back to Sonic, the blue blur thought maybe his last comment wasn't really the brightest thing he said to his rival.

"Sorry Shadow," said Sonic as he stopped himself from more chuckling, "I mean, come on pal, haven't you thought about anymore special in your life?"

"Hmmm... Maria was someone special," Shadow was slightly interested in the topic that he was in.

"You.. uh... liked Maria?" Sonic gave a little questionable look and Shadow thought Soinc's question was absurd. Of course Shadow cared deeply about Maria because she was his first friend that he was able to appreciate.

"Of course. Even though I vaguely remember her now, I'm pretty sure she was a special friend back in the Ark."

"No Shadow!" Sonic waved his hands in disapproval, "Not like friend. I meant someone that you like like." The blue hedgehog never thought he would be having a love conversation with his rival. This was the least that he had in his mind.

"Like maybe Rouge?" Sonic asked carefully and he noticed that there was a slight uneasiness in his gut when he asked this question.

"Rouge is just someone that I work with. She seem to have interest in me but I really could care less," Shadow murmured. Sonic sighed in relief when he heard this.

"W-what about other girls you met in your life?" Sonic asked again. 'Chaos, it's like I'm inspecting Shadow or something to see if he had any love life!'

"What other girls?" Shadow's tone remained monotone, "Rouge is the only female that got close with me. I'm not loved by so many people like you, Sonic." Shadow was surprised that he used his rival's name again. Shadow thought about actually using Sonic's name more often since the blue blur thought Shadow hardly calls him by his name. Sonic's words hurt Shadow a little in the chest when Sonic thought Shadow was Zhadow and the reason was because Shadow doesn't use the term, Sonic.

"Don't be silly Shadow!" Sonic cheerfully smiled, "A lot of people like you! You did a lot to save the Earth and I'm sure they really respect you a lot!"

"Right. They respect me so much to the point where they assume that I'm trying to contact Black Doom and destroy this planet by gathering chaos emeralds," Shadow growled and Sonic winced in Shadow's explanation. The blue hedgehog felt horrible because what Shadow just said was the complete truth.

"Do you know what Mephiles told me few years back when I first met him," Shadow thought about the scene where he and Mephiles were about to enter the heating battle.

This time, Sonic who is usually talkative silenced himself as he focused his ears more.

"He told me that in the future I would be held as a prisoner when the Iblis fire destroys this planet," the image of himself getting looked into this machine without any consciousness crossed Shadow's mind as he continued, "He told me that not only people fear my power but they also envy me. Mephiles kept telling me that he doesn't understand why I would want to protect humans if they would turn their back and blame on me."

"Hey hold on!" Sonic interrupted, not wanting to hear Shadow's words anymore, "But Iblis event never existed now remember? So there isn't going to be a fire destruction," Sonic explained but Shadow quickly shook his head.

"It's not just Iblis. As long as this planet exist, any type of destruction could happen and if they fail to find the source of this destruction..." Shadow closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, "Then it's pretty obvious where those hatred is going to be dumped on," said Shadow who was referring to himself.

Sonic also exhaled deeply and saw the white fog coming out from his mouth. The blue hedgehog tried to imagine himself living his life through Shadow's worlds. Sonic thought it was unfair that just because Shadow's first image to the world was like a killing machine, people would forget all the heroic duties that Shadow did. So many people benefited from Shadow's help as well but those would be easily forgotten. Sonic had his head down until he decided to change the topic again.

"You know Shadow," Sonic swallowed hard in order to get his shaky voice off from his throat, "I think you're pretty awesome," Sonic shrugged. "I mean, look at yourself. You're fast, you have chaos powers that even I can't control easily, I think you have a pretty chill personality most of the time except for those little temper problems now and then," Sonic chuckled.

"And where is this suddenly coming from?" Shadow asked but deep inside, he felt a slight warmth when he heard Sonic saying all those compliments to him. It's been a while since he heard some positive remarks in his life so far.

"Hey, I'm not trying to get all touchy and emotional like some girl," Sonic gave the cocky look, "But I do want you to know that I'm always here for you."

"..."

"And I bet you're thinking why," Sonic rolled his eyes at Shadow's lack of response, "I just like you Shadow. I don't want you to deal with problems all by yourself you know."

"I understand," Shadow close his eyes and smiled which was a very rare site for Sonic to see. This caused Sonic to feel a sudden bliss as if he accomplished some hard mission as a hero. But it just felt ten times better knowing that he was the one that caused Shadow to give a small smile.

"Man, I don't even know how we got into all of the serious talk!" Sonic exclaimed and recalled what they were talking about in the beginning before the atmosphere suddenly went downhill. "Oh yeah! The first kiss topic that our little Shadow is too shy to talk about."

"What did you say?" Shadow narrowed his eyes but this didn't scare the blue blur at all.

"Hey it's true," Sonic teased, "Anyways I wanted my first kiss to be someone that I really like, or at least respect because those memory tends to last longer."

"I'm glad that your going to have memory Zhadow for your life time them" Shadow smirked and Sonic fumed at this.

"And that is the reason why that guy is dead when I see him again my friend," Sonic said it in a dramatic tone.

"Hmmm... if it's not Amy that you have interest then who did you wanted it to be?" Shadow suddenly asked and Sonic was a little surprised at first.

The blue hedgehog tilted his head and thought about who he wanted his first kiss to be with if it wasn't for that creeper ex-zone cop to take it away from him. Sonic thought about all the other girls that he met up until now but none of them gave him that butterfly feeling. Or it just didn't look too right in Sonic's imagination when he pictured himself kissing any of them.

But suddenly, Sonic thought about how he felt when ever he spotted Shadow and Zonic together talking about some random junks. The blue hero didn't want those two to be even near each other and Sonic hated when Shadow first called out Zonic's name and not his. When Shadow also started the conversation with Zonic by asking the zone cop many questions, Sonic felt like he was left in the dust. 'No... no way...!' Sonic's face became serious as he just had a reality check. 'I was jealous because I liked Shadow all this-'

"Aren't you going to answer me again?" Shadow said softly and decided to add the blue blur's name to get his attention. "Sonic., aren't you going to answer?"

"Oh right hehheh, so anyways," Sonic tried to maintain his cool and decided to think about that problem. "Tails always said I would not have a normal relationship. He said he can't possible imagine me being all romantic and lovy dovy," Sonic smiled at the mention of the two tailed fox and Shadow could also see that the blue hedgehog was lightening up again.

"I can't imagine that either," Shadow added.

"Yeah... me too. I just want someone that I can have fun with," said Sonic, "Someone that I can race with once in a while and I don't have worry about missing some special days like anniversay or valentine days because I don't have time for that and I don't really want to think about that either. And~" Sonic raised his index finger as if he was going to make a very important statement, "I want someone who would listen to me," Sonic thought about Amy's ranting a couple of times.

"Sounds like your describing yourself a little, don't you think?" Shadow commented but Sonic shook his head a little.

"Yeah but at the same time, having a little different personality would be nice too. If we are both going to be hyperactive and optimistic all the time then, there isn't going to be any fun! Some teasing around would be cool and I would feel accomplished if I put my effort to that special someone happy ya know?" Sonic stopped himself and realized who he was really describing. Someone who he can race without worrying about girly dates. Someone that would listen to him patiently when he just wants to let it out of his chest. Someone that would have the opposite personality so Sonic would have to "work hard" to earn that person's smile. That someone was...

"So Shadow, are you feeling hungry?" Sonic's face grew a little red when he realized all his mysterious puzzle pieces came together relating to none other than Shadow the hedgehog.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~No Zone~~~~~~~~

No Zone was a complete mess. There were crystals every where that penetrated walls, floors, windows, doors and also few lives of zone cops as well. What started out as a fight between Zonic and the two enemy Scourge and Zhadow became out of control when Mephiles turned himself into his crystal form and dashed out all sorts of attack using his dark energy ball and spears. Zonic had hard time dealing once all three of them came to attack him at once. At first, he managed to effectively dodge them and gave some damage to Scourge and Zhadow but when Mephiles created some clones using the white chaos emerald, that's when Zonic lost it.

Although Zonic's scream in pain managed to bring a huge amount of backups, it was impossible to stop especially with Mephiles' power.

"The power that Black Doom gave to me is simply amazing," Maphiles laughed as he felt more of chaos energy pulsing through his body. "So this is what Shadow must have as well."

"Chaos Spear!" Zhadow shouted while he was in the mid air to cause more destruction. Zonic tried to stand up but the bruises and deep cuts, mainly from Mephiles were killing him. When Scourge saw how miserable Zonic looked, he decided to have a little pay back time with the elite zone cop.

"Zhadow, look what I can do!" Scourge also turned himself into a little green spin dash that looked very similar to Sonic's attack and landed a harsh blow on Zonic. The zone cop helplessly rolled to the other side without any movement.

"Hey," Zhadow warped himself right in front of the green hedgehog with the red chaos emerald, "You don't have any right to harm him, understand?" Zhadow growled.

"Oh please," Scourge smirked, "Don't tell me you have a soft spot for-"

"Shut it before I do it for you," Zhadow growled and roughly pushed Scourge away to the other side.

'Hmmm it seems he still has some of his memory intact...' Mephiles thought to himself as he observed Zhadow during their brief destruction of No Zone. Every time when Scourge tried to hurt Zonic, Zhadow would try to stop that from happening any further. Even when Mephiles himself caused a lot of injuries to the elite zone cop, Zhadow growled and gave the dark hedgehog a really pissed off look. There were few times where Zhadow would tell Mephiles that he would "take care of Zonic" himself. But compared to Scourge and Mephiles, Zhadow tried to make sure he wasn't hurting Zonic too much.

Zhadow turned around and saw that Zonic was coughing out blood as he winced in pain. The elite zone cop tried to stand up but his arms was badly injured with blood squirting out everywhere. Zonic bit his tongue so he wouldn't cry out the pain but that just caused his tongue to bleed as well.

"B-Boss! Are you alright?!" one of the lower class zone cop ran to the bleeding hedgehog but Zonic just waved his hand off.

"You guys have to retreat..." Zonic spit out the blood, "We're going to lose too many lives like this," said Zonic as he stood up from the floor. Zonic covered his left arm from bleeding any further with his right hand as his breathing became more louder and louder.

"Zonic..." Zhadow whispered and looked away, not being able to take such scene any longer.

"We're wasting out time here," Zhadow shouted to both Mephiles and Scourge. "Judging by Zonic's stubborn attitude, he's not going to give us anything. We did enough damage here."

"But Zhadow..." Mephiles turned into a shadow but instantly appeared right behind Zhadow, "Don't you remember what that insolent fool did to you?"

All of the sudden, Zhadow started to have a throbbing pain in his head as his pupil dilated. He placed one of his hand on top of his head to alleviate this strange pain.

**_Zhadow's shattered memory (?)_**

The image of a cryptic lab came into his mind that seemed slightly familiar. Zhadow saw himself trapped in some kind of green liquid and he appeared to be sleeping. Then out of nowhere, he saw Zonic coming into the lab and ordering other zone cops to destroy the lab. While the destruction started in the lab with other scientists screaming and begging to spare their lives, Zonic slowly walked in front of the capsule that had Zhadow inside.

"We don't need an ultimate life form," Zonic whispered and pointed his gun in front the green capsule with sleeping Zhadow inside.

"No wait stop!" A female called out and Zonic instantly turned around to see a human girl with a blue dress and a blond hair. She slowly walked towards Zonic in order to reason with him to possible let Zhadow live.

Zonic smirked and narrowed his eyes with his gun pointed directly at the innocent girl. Without any second thought, Zonic pulled the trigger.

**_End of Zhadow's shattered memory (?)_**

"Remember Zhadow, if it wasn't for Zonic you could have been the ultimate life form and not some kind of incomplete product," Mephiles hissed behind the ex-zone cop's ear. "Not to mention he killed your friend. Let's not forget that."

With that, Mephiles opened the portal and signaled both of the hedgehogs to follow him. Scourge just shrugged and entered the dark portal first. Next, Mephiles entered without even looking back to see the lives that he took less than a hour.

"Mephiles told me your little past Zonic," Zhadow walked to Zonic and leaned down to the injured hedgehog.

"What... what are you... talking about...?"

"You know what I'm talking about!" Zhadow snapped and Zonic was frightened a little. "On the night when I told you that I would be sent to the laboratory in order to be finished into an ultimate life form, you snuck into the lab with your zone cop crew."

"...What...?" asked Zonic with his voice barely audible.

"You destroyed everyone in the lab because you were jealous of the power that I would be capable of when I became the final product. Not to mention you killed a human friend who was close to me. Just because I was unconscious you thought you could just get away with it but you got it all wrong, Zonic," Zhadow hissed and stood up from the floor.

"... I don't know what you're talking about..." said Zonic as he fainted with a small stream of tear falling to the side of his injured face.

Zhadow glanced back to see Zonic one more time with a slight hint of disappointment and guilt before he entered the portal and was greeted by Mephiles and Scourge in another dimension.

'I need to alter his memory more,' Mephiles noted himself.

* * *

******HAPPY THANKSGIVING! GO EAT A LOT! XD**

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	12. Zhadow's Tear and Shadow's Fish

**Enjoy this chapter :)**

**And hope you guys enjoyed reading my thank you message!**

* * *

"Cool place you got here~" Scourge whistled and looked around the place that resembled very close to the abandoned Space Colony Ark. But this one was located in No Zone which meant it was the place where Zhadow was created and not Shadow. The floor was made with cold metal and there were a lot of computers with some of them having broken screens. There were large windows which were meters long in the vertical range. The green hedgehog looked out the window to witness a boring space.

"This is where Zhadow was created," Mephiles gave a hand gesture to Zhadow. "This is also the place where Zonic betrayed Zhadow, isn't that right?"

"….." Zhadow just turned away from Mephiles and Scourge as he rubbed the red chaos emerald with his fingers.

"Woah, I never thought Zonic would be the type to do anything cool," the green hedgehog chuckled and wrapped one of his arm around Zhadow's back, "So what did he do to you? Can you tell me the whole story?"

"That is none of your concern. Mephiles, stop spreading my life story," Zhadow growled, "And get your hands away from me."

"Sheesh~ someone needs to take a chill pill," Scourge put both of his hands in the air and backed away from the black hedgehog.

"While you guys have fun bickering, I'm going to have a little chat with Black Doom. Feel free to roam around this place. I'm certain that Zhadow wouldn't mind," Mephiles glared at Zhadow and Scourge.

"I'm not going to spend my time with this guy," Zhadow rudely pointed at Scourge who pretended to be hurt by Zhadow's statement, "I have my own business to take care of."

"Remember Zhadow. I'm planning to give this white emerald in exchange of his chaos energy. to Black Doom which means I would need to take that red chaos emerald from you soon," Mephiles went to the machine with a huge screen that was very different from other computers. There were red pulsing blobs that wrapped the computer and it started to make an eerie sound as the computer like machine turned on.

"So who is this Black Doom anyways?" Scourge walked next to Mephiles and paid attention to the screen.

"He is the main source of my power," Mephiles stated. Ever since Sonic, Shadow and Silver defeated Mephiles few years back, Mephiles' main source of power called Iblis was also destroyed as well. Since then, Mephiles became a lot weaker than before so he needed to find another source of power before he started to run after Shadow. This was when he discovered Black Doom who wanted to invade the Earth but was also stopped by Shadow. How Ironic.

"I can give you back the emerald later," said Zhadow. The red chaos emerald started to glow when the ex-zone cop gave an input to the gem to release the energy. "I have a little business of my own to attend to. Chaos Control."

With a giant red flash, Zhadow vanished into the thin air. Scourge just shrugged and shifted his attention to the screen waiting to see who or what in the world Black Doom is while Mephiles cursed Zhadow under his breath.

'When I am done with my revenge on Shadow, I'm going to have a little fun with you too, Zhadow…' Mephiles trailed off.

Zhadow transported himself back inside the main zone cop building in No Zone. He was little far away from Zonic's office because the evidence of the huge battle scene was still there at the moment. This meant that there would be a lot of backups and medical teams coming to aid the zone cop officers.

The ex-zone cop thought if he should try acting like Shadow again or if he should keep his uniform on. But when Zhadow thought about Shadow and how much Zonic seemed to like that pathetic ultimate life form, the ex-zone cop didn't want to throw away his pride and act like his alternate version.

'There is no way I'm going to act like Shadow again," Zhadow murmured in anger. Even though Zhadow told himself that he should hate Zonic, it was easier said than done. In Zhadow's mind, he was confident that Zonic was the one that stopped him from becoming a complete ultimate life form and not to mention that elite zone cop was the one that killed his close human friend along with the other scientists that gave him birth.

When Zhadow discovered those memories after his first encounter with Mephiles, the love towards Zonic slowly started to vanish as the feeling of treachery and loathing grew in his heart. How could Zonic do that to him? Was Zonic really jealous of him being an ultimate life form? (Zonic did cared about status and hierarchy a lot) Nevertheless, Zhadow noticed that he had a little difficulty erasing all the good memories that he had with Zonic in their previous secret but sweet love life.

'Maybe if I see this traitor's pitiable face one more time, I can stop myself from going… a little soft on him,' Zhadow narrowed his eyes as he observed the surrounding. There were no other zone cops in site. Taking this as a good sign to infiltrate and find where Zonic was located, the ex-zone cop jumped down to the bottom floor without making any sound. Zhadow quietly walked with one of his hands closely holding onto the chaos emerald as if it was his own life.

"Is Zonic the zone cop taken care of right now?" one of the medical staff spoke to the zone cop. Zhadow quickly hid his body behind the green wall and decided to listen to the interesting conversation.

"Thank you for coming here with such a short notice," the red colored rat bowed with a deep sigh, "I can't believe those three villains created this much destruction in less than a hour!"

"Well, I can't believe Zonic was defeated like that," the medical staff looked at her record and read out loud, "He had a broken arm which was really serious. I thought the arm was going to literally fall off but we managed to take care of that. Some of the crystal like items were found inside of his body parts, there was a sign of low blood pressure because he was coughing out too much blood before we took him to the emergency room and… oh there was a little brain damage but that wasn't too bad. Ah, and some cuts and bruises here and there."

Zhadow winced when he heard what Zonic's medical conditions were. At the same time, the ex-zone cop probably thought that those diagnoses were a little overboard since he couldn't imagine Zonic in that state. Zhadow worked with Zonic so many times during their past missions and even though Zonic received some injuries they were never that serious.

'That guy is just bluffing,' Zhadow thought to himself. 'Even though I would love to see Zonic in such condition, I'm sure he's just resting in his bed, cursing this whole situation.'

"We should probably talk more about his health reports a little further away from here. He might hear us," the zone cop made a hand gesture and pulled the medical staff away to the opposite side of the hall.

'So that traitor is in one of those rooms, huh?' Zhadow smirked and quietly stepped outside when the close was clear. There were three doors in front of him. Zhadow looked through the windows of each room and it was pretty obvious which room was occupied and which were not. Zhadow saw a lump that was under the bed sheet. A high chance that Zonic was under those sheets. The ex-zone laughed at the site and took out the red emerald to teleport himself inside the room without making any noise.

"Hiding under the covers, Zonic?" Zhadow smirked and walked closer to the bed. Zhadow hoped that Zonic would wake up so the ex-zone cop can basically trash talk and insult him as much as possible. Zhadow thought this would be the solution to his little "soft spot on Zonic" issue. He would get rid of this feeling once and for all.

"I know you can hear me Zonic," Zhadow sounded slightly annoyed when he realized that Zonic didn't even move a muscle below the bed sheet, "What? Are you scared to admit your mistake of the past?" Zhadow stood right next to the bed. The ex-zone cop placed his hand on top of the lump of the bed sheet and pulled it away, revealing Zonic who was underneath.

Zhadow expected to see a cocky hedgehog mocking him with that famous poker face.

He thought he would see Zonic in his pissed off face getting ready to rant at Zhadow for what he did to No Zone. Zhadow was also certain that the elite zone cop would have some type of weapon under the bed, just waiting to give Zhadow a surprise attack.

But the image of Zonic that Zhadow had in mind was very different from the reality.

"….Z-Zonic….?" Zhadow barely led out a whisper that was sadly heard by no one.

Zonic was sleeping without any uniform on but his body looked more like a corpse than a resting patient. There were bandages everywhere and a large surgery mark was on the side of his once smooth stomach. Zonic's gloves were also off so Zhadow was able to see open cuts and injuries that were made by Mephiles' crystal attacks. The elite zone cop's ears were both folded down and his face expression showed a contorted pain which meant he was not sleeping in peace. There was a trace of some blood marks on the side of Zonic's lips and some IV with various types of medicine hooked into his arms. The lively quills which were main features of Zonic were messy and looked duller if you asked Zhadow. Under the closed eye lids, the ex-zone cop saw dried up tear marks which made him sigh without noticing.

But what surprised the black hedgehog more was the fact that Zonic's both hands were trembling in his sleep. They were trembling in fear.

"…..This isn't you," said Zhadow as he stepped back a little. After observing Zonic's condition for more than thousands of times and even having a closer look in order to check if it was really Zonic and not some kind of similar looking hedgehog species, Zhadow finally told himself the tragic news. This lifeless, defenseless, shaking looking creature was in fact the cocky zone cop that Zhadow had in his mind.

"Stop pretending to sleep you idiot!" Zhadow yelled and at this point, he didn't care if he got caught sneaking into the room. "What? You think I'm going to feel sorry for you? You think your little plan of looking pitiful is going to work? I don't feel any sympathy at all so there! In fact, I think you're just presenting a shameful image of yourself to me!"

Zonic stayed there with his eyes closed while his hands continued to shake on each side of the bed.

"Your tricks are low Zonic," Zhadow shook his head and noticed a small stream of tears falling on the side of his dark skin, "You're the one who's supposed to feel sympathy towards me! You envied me when I told you that I would be finally engineered into an ultimate life form. You were scared that I would have more power and control and that's why you came to destroy everyone on the ARK right?! You almost killed me as well if it wasn't for my friend's sacrifice! You are such a selfish bastard!" Zhadow landed his fist hard on the desk that was next to him and a flower vase fell to the floor making a crash sound.

Zhadow stopped himself and stared at Zonic. Zonic was always sensitive when it came to sound. Ex-zone cop remembered how hard it was to sleep next to Zonic since the elite zone cop would literally wake up at any small noise. Zonic even once complained about Zhadow's breathing when they slept together which Zhadow thought insane.

The vase crashed but Zonic didn't wake up. His blue ears were still folded back and didn't even twitch at the sound.

"Are you getting lazy now?!" Zhadow felt a huge wave of anger rushing up to him when Zonic didn't wake up like he was supposed to. He always did when there was a sudden sound. Always. "The vase made a crash sound! You're supposed to wake up and look at me! Why… why aren't you waking up?!"

The ex-zone cop roughly placed his hand on top of Zonic's shivering right hand and spoke out other nonsense that he could think of. "You're an elite zone cop! The boss! You can't tremble in fear like you're some kind of coward, stop doing that!"

Zhadow gripped tightly onto Zonic's hand, hoping that his hand would be able to stop the blue hedgehog from shaking but it didn't work. He could feel the vibration that started from the hand traveling up to his own body as well.

"Stop the damn shaking!" Zhadow shouted and finally fell onto his knee.

The black hedgehog realized how much pain Zonic just went though because of him, Mephiles and Scourge. He didn't know it would end this bad because to him, Zonic always looked like the invincible type. It looked like he would still be okay after the short but a harsh battle.

"Zonic…. You're really scaring me…. stop with this whole act and wake up," Zhadow whispered.

But Zonic didn't respond like how Zhadow wanted.

"Were you that scared, Zonic…?" Zhadow noticed that his voice sounded a little hoarse, "I've never seen you like this..."

Zhadow rubbed his hand onto Zonic to let him know that he was there. When he saw Zonic in this condition, he couldn't help it. All of his hatred and anger towards his past lover washed away and the feeling of guilt and sorrow came right into his heart.

"You're really unfair, Zonic. I came here to insult you. To make sure I can have my revenge on you for destroying the ARK and almost taking my life away while I was unconscious. I came to see your arrogant face so I can erase my soft spot on you."

Zonic still had a pained look on his face but didn't wake up.

"Ha… instead you do this. Once again, you managed to make it look like I'm the bad guy," the lingering tear that was on the corner of Zhadow's eye finally fell to the bed.

Zonic moaned quietly in pained and shifted a little while he slept in his nightmare.

"I'll tell you what. If you show me those emerald eyes one more time then… just for today I'll act like nothing happened between us. Please Zonic…? Just for a few seconds?"

Looking at Zonic made it harder for Zhadow to believe that his ex-lover would betray him in the first place. Even though Zonic had poker face most of the time with that blunt attitude, Zhadow knew that the elite zone cop loved him deeply. So it didn't make any sense when he tried to connect the pieces together. Was it really Zonic that tried to kill him? Was it really Zonic who destroyed his human friend and scientists who promised him the title of the ultimate life form? The black hedgehog tightened his grip on Zonic's weak hand as he carefully traced is shattered memory back.

~x ~x ~ x~ x~ x~

"Hungry? You're kidding right?" the ultimate life form hated the fact that the blue hero just ruined a pretty nice moment between them but he couldn't help out to give out a soft chuckle when he heard Sonic's stomach begging for food.

"D-don't judge me!" Sonic's face turned a little red as he frowned, "It's not my fault that I'm hungry ya know! The running around the snow must have taken more energy than I thought."

"Wasn't that chili dog that I got for you enough?" said Shadow and Sonic scratched his head a little by this question.

"I mean this might be surprising news but I eat a lot. More than you think, hehheh," Sonic grinned and shrugged his shoulder as if he was stating the obvious. Shadow wasn't that shocked to find out that Sonic was an eating machine because of his high metabolism.

"What do you want me to do then? I didn't pack any lunch from No Zone because someone is stubborn to stay here until he finds the emerald," Shadow hissed under his breath when he thought about Sonic's stupid reason to stay in this freezing dimension a little longer. 'Well… the reason is because he wants to find me the emerald.' Shadow reminded himself.

"Sorry, Sorry," Sonic laughed as he waved his hands in defeat, "You might be an ultimate life form but I'm pretty stubborn myself. Besides, it's for a good cause anyways."

"What are you going to do then?" Shadow asked and Sonic tilted his head in confusion.

"What am I going to do with-" before Sonic had the time to complete his sentence, his stomach let another loud sound that asked for food. Sonic stopped himself and rubbed his peach colored stomach with an embarrassing look on his face. With a little grin on his lips, Shadow let out another soft humor and Sonic also followed to laugh as well.

'Hey, at least he now seems to enjoy my company,' Sonic thought to himself.

"So you were saying?" Shadow gave a hand gesture for Sonic to continue. The blue blur stopped rubbing his stomach when he realized that the noise making stopped. Sonic then looked around to see if there was anything edible but there were only chaos emerald and snow. Bunch of snow.

"I guess I'll just munch on snow before I find other stuff to eat," Sonic said half jokingly "I mean, snow is water so I am filling my stomach with something, right?" Sonic asked Shadow.

The black hedgehog just blinked a few times to see if Sonic was being serious about eating the snow to satisfy his hunger or if he was bantering around as usual. Shadow's right ear shifted to the ceiling to see if the blizzard alleviated a little. When the ultimate life form thought that the snow became a lot weaker while they talked about….well… love topics, he stood up from the floor and decided to have a little look around the outside world.

"Hey buddy, where're you going?" Sonic grabbed Shadow's arm but quickly retracted his arm when Shadow turned around. It's like, Sonic was all of the sudden acting shy out of nowhere. 'What am I, some kind of girl?' Sonic mentally slapped himself but every since when he realized where his envy came from and his possible chance of actually… uh… having some kind of interest towards his rival, things became really bizarre for the blue hedgehog.

"It sounds like the blizzard became weaker," Shadow raised one of his eye muscles in confusion when he saw Sonic quickly letting go but decided to ignore that for now, "Maybe we can find the emerald and get out of here so you won't starve to death."

"Aww, thanks for caring about me so much, Shadow," Sonic smiled, "Let me go with you then. It's better if we both search for it together."

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea. The snow did weaken a little but I don't think you should go out in that condition."

Without even turning back, Shadow used both of his hands to clear out the ceiling part of the snow to re-make the entrance hole. Sonic on the other hand was a little annoyed because it looked like Shadow was treating him like some kind of helpless girl.

"I can go fine in my condition thank you very much," said Sonic with a huge sarcasm. The blue hedgehog walked near Shadow to join him but the ultimate life form gently pushed Sonic to the side.

"Stop acting like a child," Shadow hissed under his breath but he knew that just few words wouldn't get through the thick skull of the blue hero.

"Yeah right, and you think I'm really going to listen to you," Sonic gave out anotherlaughter but his voice faded away and ears twitched as if he tried to detect some type of sound. Shadow also stopped what he was doing and finally turned around to see Sonic.

"What's wrong?" asked Shadow as he shook his hands to get rid of the snow from soaking the glove.

"The blizzard… it just stopped?"

Shadow also realized that the harsh blowing wind with an occasional sound of ice shards landing on the soft snow was gone in a second. It was a little strange for two hedgehogs since just a few moments ago the blizzard was still there but Shadow took this as a good sign to punch the top portion of the snow to finish making the exit. The black hedgehog peaked outside and was greeted by a bright sunlight in the cloudless sky. The floor was still covered in the snow sheet but Shadow was able to see his surrounding a lot clearer than before. He didn't realize in the far distance, there were figures that closely matched the shapes of pine trees

"Hey! Hello!" Sonic yelled from below as he pulled the black hedgehog's tail. Sonic was still below the surface and was really curious to see how the outside world looked like. Shadow jerked at Sonic's sudden touch and this caused him to fall back inside the shelter.

"You really have great manners," Shadow growled as he stood up from the floor.

"I want to see the outside world too you know," Sonic grinned and he quickly jumped out to breath in some fresh cold air. Sonic closed his eyes allowed the chilly wind to tangle itself on to his quills as he stretched out his arms and legs.

"I am so in the mood to run right now," Sonic said with an excited tone. Shadow also came out from under ground and glanced at Sonic.

"You act like we were in that shelter for days," Shadow commented. Although he didn't admit it, the black hedgehog was glad that Zonic's medicine worked its magic to Sonic's body. His quills were back to the original blue colors and not some kind of dark tone of blue. The skin parts which were supposed to be peach showed some healthy signs and the blue blur didn't stutter his words anymore.

At the corner of his emerald eyes, Sonic noticed that Shadow was observing him with rather full details. A smile crept onto Sonic because he was finally getting some attention from the ultimate life form.

"I know I'm a fine looking hedgehog, if I do say so myself," Sonic rubbed his nose with his index fingers and Shadow was gave a surprised look before he shifted his eyes to something else. Sonic chuckled at Shadow's reaction before looking around the environment himself.

"So we need to find that emerald," Sonic stated the obvious but Shadow had something different in his mind.

"I should get you some food first," said Shadow as he walked straight. Sonic paced himself to walk next to the black hedgehog.

"What do you mean? Isn't your priority the chaos emerald?" asked Sonic with a little curiosity on his face. The blue hedgehog kept his attention fully onto Shadow but his rival continued to look straight ahead.

"It's just better if you had something to eat. I mean, I don't want you to complain about your hunger when the time passes."

"I don't complain!" Sonic fought back as he gritted his teeth.

"What are you doing now then, Faker?" Shadow asked and he had to admit, he found this situation where he teased the blue hedgehog a little humorous.

"Hey what I'm doing is different from complaining," Sonic narrowed his eyes and picked up his walking pace when Shadow started to walk a little faster than before.

"Right," Shadow simply answered. His main focus was to find some kind of food source for Sonic and probably himself. If was true that Shadow didn't really depend on food to survive but his body was still used to with receiving some type of solid energy source now and then. Shadow's stomach did feel empty. The ultimate life form stopped when they both reached in front of the ice pool that was cracked opened right in the center.

Shadow analyzed the broken pieces of the thin ice. "It's obvious that some idiot fell into this pool because it's a thin ice," Shadow murmured and Sonic picked up this sentence. He smiled weakly as he revealed to Shadow who the helpless victim was.

"Hate to break it to you but that idiot is me," Sonic pointed the white gloved finger to himself. Sonic expected Shadow to laugh and throw some witty insult at his stupid mistake for falling into the water.

"You what?" Shadow sounded a surprised as his eyes widely opened.

"I took a little dip into the pool!" Sonic tried to make this situation a little less serious but this just caused Shadow to give more expression that was mixed with worry and shock.

"Sonic, how did manage to survive that one? Why were you in there in the first place?" Shadow asked carefully and this side of the ultimate life form was totally new to the blue hero. Sonic stroked one of the large features of his blue quills as his green eyes didn't meet with Shadow's.

"Well, to keep a long story short I just fell there because I couldn't see where I was going. Then I drowned a little but a little dolphin came to the rescue and-"

"You _drowned_?" Shadow emphasized the question.

"I'm alive so no need to get all mad!" Sonic raised both of his hands in the air. "I just drank some salty water, big deal."

"The big deal is that you could have gotten hypothermia," Shadow let out a deep sigh and pinched the skin just above his nose.

"The hypo.. come again?"

"Your temperature could have dropped to the point where your live was in danger," Shadow explained but Sonic used his hand gesture as if he was brushing away Shadow's comment.

"Dude, I put my life in danger all the time. This was nothing compared to what I had to go through before," Sonic said proudly and this bothered Shadow to a small degree. Even though Sonic was fast and experienced a lot of near death situations, he shouldn't just take things so easily all the time.

"I don't know how your friends deal with you," Shadow finally gave up on lecturing Sonic. The black hedgehog tried to have a small peak on inside of the dark water.

"My friends love me so don't worry about that," Sonic joined Shadow but he shivered a little when the memory of himself splashing around the water came back to haunt him again. Sonic backed away a little and Shadow frowned at Sonic's behavior.

"I know you don't like water but do you eat fish?" Shadow asked out of the blue.

"….What?" This time it was Sonic's turn to be all confused.

"I'm talking about food, Faker," Shadow sighed, "I can check under the water to see if there is anything edible."

"Woah, slow down there Shadow. I'm not going to let you jump into that freezing water just to feed me some food," Sonic reasoned with the black hedgehog. "Let's just find the chaos emerald and we can return to Zonic."

"Try saying that to your stomach," Shadow smirked as he touched the water to see how cold it was. It was still freezing and he couldn't believe Sonic was in here drowning and not to mention he was saved by a dolphin. Sonic really had all the luck he needed in the world in Shadow's perspective.

"No Shadow really, this isn't necessary," Sonic tried to stop his rival.

"….." Shadow looked at Sonic one last time. Yup, no matter what Sonic said to him about not being hungry, the ultimate life form knew that Sonic's eyes were just begging for food. Shadow smirked at Sonic's appearance that somewhat made the blue hedgehog poor.

(SPLASH)

"! Shadow! You get back here!" Sonic shouted but didn't move his two running feet as if they were glued to the floor. Sonic gave himself a face palm and looked at the pool that Shadow just jumped in.

'I'm not that… hungry,' Sonic trailed off and decided to wait patiently for Shadow. The blue hedgehog started to count some numbers to see how long Shadow would be under the water. He told himself that if Shadow didn't come up before he finished counting up to thirty than Sonic had to do something. Maybe jump into the chilly water for the second time? Sonic's quills shook at the imagination.

It seemed like few minutes passed and there were no signs of the black hedgehog and Sonic started to grow anxious. He tapped his foot a couple of times and paced himself back and forth.

"Shadow, it would be so lame if you died while catching some fish!" Sonic shouted and hoped that Shadow would pop out from the water. But instead of the black hedgehog jumping out to the water, four medium sized fish came out. One of them landed on Sonic's hand perfectly. The blue hero just stared at it before the fish jumped up and down, landing its tail on to Sonic's noise. The blue hero quickly released the fish which landed on the snow, leaving some… fish marks.

'Fish? That guy really caught some fish?' Sonic looked at the floor and saw four medium sized fish hopping around, trying to breathe.

"Shadow!" Sonic chirped when he saw his friend reaching up to the surface of the water with thick wet fur and quills all over his body. Shadow didn't shake in coldness which amazed Sonic. Shadow shook of his feet and hands before coming closer to Sonic.

"I bet this is something that you'll never be able to do," said Shadow with his voice sounding like a challenge.

"What fishing? Just give me the tools and I bet you I can catch larger fish than yours," said Sonic as he picked up the four fish.

"Why not have a trip to the pool? I'm sure you can catch at least one with your bare hands," Shadow teased the blue hero who tried his best to ignore.

"Already did that way before you came along," Sonic shrugged and touched Shadow's arm. "Aren't you cold?"

"I can sense cold but-"

"Then stay right here pal," Sonic winked and he used his sonic speed to run to the opposite direction. Shadow was about to yell at the blue hedgehog but closed his mouth when he saw Sonic returning from his little trip.

"Fire woods!" Sonic smile all happily like a kid and instantly, Shadow let out a small smile on his own.

'He really can be like a child sometimes,' Shadow reminded himself about his cocky rival's other side of the personality.

"Yo Shadow, you should smile more often. It does suit you really well," Sonic chuckled and dropped the woods on the floor. Shadow quickly wiped the smile on his face and dropped to his knee in order to organize the position of the fire wood.

"I blame you, Sonic. You must be changing me," said Shadow with a stoic voice.

"Hehhehheh, glad that I play some type of influence in your life. Now how about some small chaos control to light this thing?"

When Sonic noticed that the black hedgehog didn't move his hands to form a chaos attack, the blue hero just sighed and took out two small sticks from the pile of woods that he got from trees few yards away from where they stood.

"Fine, I'll try to make myself useful too," Sonic grumbled and tried to rub two sticks together just like how he saw it in a movie once with Tails. 'It looked so easy in the film though!' Sonic gritted his teeth and applied some more force and speed. His hand movements instantly stopped when he heard Shadow's low chuckle escaping from his lips.

"Mind telling me what's so funny?" Sonic looked up and matched his emerald eyes with the red ones.

"I was only kidding," Shadow coughed to stop himself from further laughter as he move his hands to tell Sonic to step aside from the pile of woods. With a small wave of the hand, the yellow chaos energy bolted its way to the wood, causing a small spark which eventually turned into a fire. "Is speed really all you can do?" Shadow challenged.

"Yeah, yeah keep talking like that Shadow. Don't forget, I'm the one who got all these woods you know," said Sonic and threw the two sticks that he held on to the fire.

"Right, which required speed," Shadow stated proudly.

"Eh, I guess maybe speed is the only thing I'm good at," Sonic pretended to lose the conversation and looked at the fire more closely. The fire was able to create the wind a little warmer and Sonic could feel his muscles relaxing into the soothing sensation. 'Call me crazy, but the hot shower sounds really good right now,' Sonic smiled at his own thought. After some dazing off, Sonic finally looked at Shadow who picked up four fish from the snow and was about to throw them into the fire.

"Woah there buddy! What are you doing!" Sonic grabbed Shadow's arm to stop his action.

"Don't tell me you like to this eat this thing raw," Shadow narrowed his eyes and Sonic stared at the fish before speaking again.

"I don't like it raw but I don't want it all too crispy either. I don't want to eat ashes!" Sonic took one of the fish and he used his other free hand to pick up one small left over stick that wasn't touched by Shadow's chaos spear. The blue hedgehog checked to see that the fish was dead so he wouldn't be ending his life in misery as he stuck the wood stick through the fish from the one end to the other. After a small struggling, Sonic showed Shadow the fish on the stick.

"Ta-da!" Sonic said it proudly and bowed down as if he just ended a presentation, "I know. I'm a genius."

The blue hedgehog placed the end of the stick with the fish on to the snow so it was standing up straight near the fire. He made sure that the snow on the bottom of the stick was deep enough to support the weight of the fish from falling over and possibly burning into the fire.

"Now we do the same thing with the rest of them," Sonic pointed at three more fish that Shadow had in his hands.

"You're really picky when it comes to food," Shadow said with a slight annoyance but decided to go along with Sonic since the blue blur had a good point about over cooking the fish if they were just thrown into the fire.

"Hey I eat for pleasure too and not just to fill my stomach," Sonic said happily as he placed another wood stick on to second fish.

Soon enough, four fish on the sticks surrounded the little bond fire and Sonic and Shadow just waited. Well, Shadow would have just eaten it right away but Sonic kept reminding him about how unhealthy it was to eat a fish raw. Sonic was never a huge fan of raw fish anyways like sashimi and sushi. Shadow on the other hand just cared about filling his stomach so he wouldn't have to feel the tightening muscle feeling. Unlike Sonic, Shadow definitely didn't care about the taste of the food at all.

"Here I thought you would gobble down the fish raw judging by how loud your stomach made that noise," Shadow broke the silence and Sonic rubbed his stomach in his response.

"Yeah but there is no way I'm eating that uncooked. My stomach just needs to have a patience, that's all," Sonic shrugged and swallowed the saliva that formed inside his mouth. 'Boy, I really must be getting hungry. I don't even feel my body getting cold anymore now that my attention is on something… delicious."

"Maybe instead of both of us standing here and waiting, one of us should start searching for the chaos emerald. I can stay here as long as I want but once that medicine effect runs out on you and the blizzard comes back, you probably won't be able to-" Shadow stopped his own sentence as his ears pointed to the direction of where the sound came from. The ultimate life form looked up and saw a small figure falling out of nowhere from the sky.

"SOOO NIC!" the shriek became louder but Sonic wasn't aware of this unlike Shadow. Even without thinking twice, Shadow swiftly launched his body straight to Sonic and they both landed few feet away from their previous location. As soon as Sonic and Shadow landed on the other side, there was a huge landing noise right next to their cooking fire.

"Ow," Sonic had his eyes closed because of Shadow's sudden body attack, "Shadow what was that all about?" Sonic opened his eyes and was met by Shadow's white chest fur directly on top of him. The blue hero blinked a few times with a little embarrassment because of their bizarre position. He would feel Shadow's body weight on top of him and now that Sonic thought of it, he never had this close (and a little intimate) contact with his rival. The blue hedgehog had a warm feeling creeping on the both side of his cheeks. Sonic swiftly moved his eyes to something other than any of Shadow's features.

"It looks like something just landed," Shadow answered while he was still on top of Sonic. The black hedgehog turned around and saw this red figure looking thing. At first, Shadow thought it was another attack from the monster that perhaps lived in this winter zone but he sighed in irritation when he looked closely. 'Don't tell me it's that pink hedgehog.'

"Owe! That really hurts! I think I ate some snow," the pink hedgehog none other than Amy Rose with her thick red winter coat and pink boots stood up from the pile of snow that she just landed and saw Shadow and Sonic on the other side. Amy's eyes went wide and she quickly furrowed her eyes when she saw what positions they were in.

"Hey get away from Sonic you big jerk!" yelled Amy as she summoned her giant hammer on her right hand and threw it at Shadow with full strength. But too bay for Amy, the black hedgehog was able to quickly respond to her motion and easily caught the hurling hammer with free right hand. Shadow turned his attention to Sonic who was still below him and handed the hammer.

"I think this belongs to your girlfriend, Faker," said Shadow as he stood from and allowed Sonic to see it for himself.

"My who?" Sonic blinked but when he saw the hammer, he was too shocked to see the owner of this weapon.

"SONIC!" Amy had tears of joy in her eyes as she ran and hugged Sonic, causing both of them to collapse on to the snow. Shadow just stepped a little side to let them have their little moment.

"A-AMY?!" Sonic was also extremely surprised to the point where he felt some goose bumps on his skin. "What? How? How did you get here?" Sonic tried to speak more but Amy kept hugging him which made him a little uncomfortable.

"That's not important right now my love," Amy winked and snuggled onto Sonic some more, "I can't believe I landed on the perfect spot where you are right now! "

Even though Sonic usually hated when Amy got too close with her hugs, the blue hedgehog had to admit, he was so glad to see Amy. He wished Tailes and Knuckles were here too but hey, seeing one friend is better than none right? Sonic was happy that he was helping out with Shadow's business but he also missed some of his close friends back in his world. Not to mention, the blue hero felt a little guilt for leaving them temporary without saying a proper goodbye to assist his rival.

"Aw, I missed you too Amy," Sonic smiled happily and for the first time, returned a hug back to the pink hedgehog who blushed madly at Sonic's action.

"Oh Sonic, I never want to you go! Don't you dare run off like that! I was so scared that I might never see you again!" Amy then started to cry a little during her sentences and Sonic gave out a weak laughter while giving her a pat on her back.

With Sonic and Amy having their little reunion, Shadow just had a stoic expression on his face. He witnessed everything that just happened and he couldn't help but to notice how happy Sonic looked when Amy literally landed out of nowhere. Sonic kept trying to cheer Amy up with that bright smile on his face while the pink hedgehog repeatedly told Sonic not to leave her alone again without any warning. After watching both of the hedgehogs together for a while, Shadow thought about his own situation.

Unlike Sonic, when Shadow returned back to his world there wouldn't be anyone to greet him or even be happy to see him. Sure there would be Rouge and Omega but it's been a while since he had his social contact with Rouge outside of their duties and with Omega reprogrammed by someone he still wasn't able to figure it out, Shadow felt a little empty.

'I didn't care about having people around me so why start now,' Shadow tried to brush it off but the image of Sonic and Amy sharing their little moment of happiness made the black hedgehog a little melancholy which was really strange for Shadow to feel in the first place. 'If he missed his friends that much then why does he want to still stick around with me?' Shadow asked himself.

The black hedgehog noticed that some of the fish started to burn a little from over cooking so he pulled out the sticks from the snow and left it a little further away from the fire. Shadow glanced at the two hedgehogs before letting out a deep sigh and walked to where he sensed the yellow chaos emerald. Before he even made five steps, Sonic realized that his friend was walking away from them. He pulled Amy aside and got up from the floor.

"Hey Shadow! Where are you going!" Sonic yelled and gave a hand gesture to Amy to follow him along. Sonic jogged to where Shadow was but the black hedgehog didn't stop walking. Sonic saw Shadow's face and realized that he was showing that angry version of poker face.

"I said where are you going?" Sonic asked politely and Shadow finally turned to Sonic.

"Stay here with her. One of us has to start looking for the emerald if we don't want to stay here forever," Shadow said in a low voice.

"I can help!" Sonic jumped but Shadow shook his head.

"You stay here. Not to mention your food is getting cold, literally." Shadow pointed at the four fish sticks that were just chilling on the snow surface. 'You can do some catching up with your friend as well,' thought Shadow.

"Yeah, Sonic! Aren't you curious how I was able to find you in the first place?" Amy also agreed with the ultimate life form for once. But Sonic didn't want to let Shadow do all the work again even if Amy showed up. They were supposed to be working together and the blue hedgehog didn't know why Shadow would always try to avoid receiving any help the first place.

"You know I thought you would stop being stubborn once and let me…. Hey it's that dolphin!" Sonic saw the same purple dolphin that saved his life when they first met.

"….? The what?" Shadow also turned his attention to the animal that Sonic pointed at. It was the same pool that Shadow jumped in to catch some fish. The purple dolphin made some squeaking noise and kept staring at the fire without noticing the three hedgehogs.

"Aww how adorable!" Amy jumped and pulled Sonic with both of her hands, "Let's go and see it closer!"

"Well if you guys didn't notice, that adorable creature has something in its mouth," Shadow mocked Amy. Sonic at first didn't know what Shadow was talking about but soon enough, the blue hero managed to see a yellow gem stone inside of the purple dolphin every time it made some squeaking noise.

"The chaos emerald!" Sonic exclaimed and walked closer to the pool where the dolphin was. He had to make sure that he wouldn't step onto another thin ice in order to save himself from another swimming trip. Amy still had her hands stuck to one of Sonic's arm as she smiled at the cute mammal in front of her.

"Awwwww! That is the cutest thing that I've seen in my life!" Amy screamed to the top of her lungs and soon enough, this startled the dolphin. The purple mammal started to make a huge splashing noise with her tail as a warning sign for Amy.

"Amy, you're scaring him," Sonic shook his head a little "Hi buddy, remember me?" Sonic pointed at himself.

"Oh Sonic! Are you already a friend to this cutie pie?" asked Amy while Shadow observed both of them from few steps away.

"Yup, this guy is my life saver," Sonic chuckled. "Remember I told you that I'm looking for something and you swam away? The thing in your mouth is what I was looking for and I really need to have that back now," Sonic pointed at the mouth but the dolphin closed them instantly.

'So that's how Sonic managed to save himself from drowning,' Shadow noted to himself.

The purple dolphin was happy to see Sonic but when the blue hedgehog made a hand motion to take the emerald from the creature, she started to make some strange noise and shook her head violently. The dolphin really didn't want to let it go any time soon.

"Gyah… this is going to be harder than I thought," said Sonic has he scratched one of his ears in a slight frustration. He was sure that the dolphin understood him so does that mean she didn't want to give the emerald to him?

"You should be lucky that the dolphin found it in the first place," Shadow was walking next to Sonic but when Amy gave a death glare, the ultimate life form sighed in her stupidity and stopped himself from moving any closer. "I bet we both sensed the emerald around here but it was deep below the ocean floor. That's why we couldn't detect the clear location."

"Yea but now it's not planning to give the emerald back!" Amy raised her voice and took out her red hammer. She then placed the weapon high into the air and furrowed her eyes toward the dolphin. "Now you better hand that chaos emerald in your mouth before I do it by force!" Amy moved her hammer a little.

The dolphin immediately went back to the water with a huge splash that made Sonic and Amy soaked in water.

"Amy! You can't just use hammer to solve everything you know," Sonic panicked when the purple creature was no longer in site. "Where did she go? Please don't tell me she's not going to come back," Sonic sounded desperate.

"Well, we tried to be nice before. If nice doesn't work then you have to do certain things by force," Amy said proudly and launched her hammer attack to the icy floor. "Come out from there! I know you're under there with the chaos emerald!"

"Amy wait! This ice is pretty thin!" Sonic quickly grabbed the hammer and threw it behind him. He checked the floor to make sure that there were no new cracks that formed because of Amy's attack.

"Then what do you expect me to do?" Amy stomped her feet.

"Well…. I mean we could try to wait it out until the dolphin release the chaos emerald at some point," said Sonic.

"That could take forever! And what if the emerald is dropped into the ocean floor again?!" Amy gritted her teeth and opened her hand to summon yet another hammer.

While Sonic and Amy were bickering, Shadow noticed that the purple dolphin peaked a little with her head moving side to side as if she wanted to play. The dolphin also noticed that she was being watched by the black hedgehog but didn't dive under this time. Shadow narrowed his eyes to check to see if the yellow emerald was still in the mouth of the dolphin. On the perfect timing, the dolphin opened her mouth widely and there it was the yellow chaos emerald.

'Its keep looking at the fire,' Shadow observed as the purple dolphin tried to reach into something that was outside of the water. Then Shadow had a small "Ah-ha!" moment when he figured out what the dolphin wanted. He wanted to get the cooked fish that was near the fire place. Shadow heard Sonic and Amy still talking about whatever it was since the black hedgehog stopped paying attention to them as he walked around the cracked pool to reach to his destination. Shadow looked at the dolphin once and then he looked at the four perfectly cooked fish. The dolphin squeaked in joy when someone finally understood what she wanted.

"Huh?" Sonic turned around when he heard the dolphin again. Amy then pointed at the creature that was very near Shadow.

"Hey Shadow! Don't scare that poor thing away!" Amy reminded but Sonic placed his arm in front of the pink hedgehog, giving her a sign that she should leave Shadow alone.

The ultimate life form picked up two wooden sticks and pulled the fish out from them and soon enough, he had two cooked fish on each of his hands.

"You want these, right?" Shadow spoke quietly but Sonic and Amy were still able to hear him.

The dolphin jumped up and down from the water but she made sure Shadow didn't get wet.

"So you can understand me," Shadow smirked, "Here's the deal. You first give me that object in your mouth and I can let you have two of these. Sounds good?"

The purple dolphin nodded her head with excitement and happiness in her eyes. She then gently opened her mouth and waited for Shadow to take it out. The black hedgehog dropped one of the fish to the floor and used that free hand to take the yellow chaos emerald out. 'This is the chaos emerald alright,' Shadow smiled when he felt a new chaos energy coming into his body.

"Here's your reward," said Shadow and he threw two fish into the mouth of the purple creature. The dolphin happily ate her meal and suddenly came out of the water, exposing almost half of her body to the land.

"I think she wants you to pet her," Sonic smiled when he saw how confused Shadow looked.

"… Right," Shadow murmured and gave a one gentle stroke to the mammal. The dolphin squeaked again and went back into the ocean.

"Hey Shadow, I didn't' know you were so good with animals," Sonic smiled and released himself from Amy's grasp to congratulate Shadow.

"It was pretty obvious," Shadow said with a monotone and handed the yellow chaos emerald to Sonic.

"Still, that was sweet! I guess the only thing that I really am good at is to run," Sonic bantered and he was rewarded when Shadow returned a small chuckle.

"Why didn't you just give all four fish away?" Amy frowned a little and joined the two male hedgehogs.

"I thought Faker might wanted to have some since he was complaining about being hungry," Shadow replied but received a soft punch on the shoulder from Sonic.

"Hey! I was not complaining!" said Sonic as he pretended to be mad at Shadow. At this site, Amy was surprised to see that both of the hedgehogs seemed to be getting along in their own strange ways. But Amy was still mad that Shadow was the cause of Sonic leaving her hanging in their date in the first place.

"Tails told me that you guys were here to find the chaos emerald," Amy said as she tightened her winter coat, "Now that we found it, can we please go back, Sonic?"

"Yeah we should go back before things get ugly here again," said the blue hero. He crouched down to the floor to take one of the cooked fish and handed one to Shadow. "Here, you should eat one."

"I suddenly lost my appetite," said Shadow and he was in fact telling the truth. The ultimate life form didn't want to admit but his mood turned upside down when Amy entered the scene. It wasn't like the black hedgehog had a huge hatred against Sonic's friend but now that they were together, Shadow felt like he belonged in the background again. He was pretty sure that as long as Amy was around, he wouldn't be able to talk or even approach Sonic that easily since the pink hedgehog hated him to the guts.

"Oh come on," said Sonic as he took a bite from the fish, "It's pretty good~"

"Stop that," said Shadow and he handed the purple emerald to Sonic who received it with a surprised look on his face.

"What's this for?" asked Sonic.

"There are the two emeralds. You can use those to travel back with your friend to your world while I use this dimensional gun to return to No Zone. Just make sure Mephiles doesn't get his filthy hands them." The ultimate life form pointed the Zonic's gun and opened the portal immediately that led to No Zone.

"Woah, who said I'm going back to my world?" Sonic sounded a little pissed but Amy quickly covered his mouth with her hands.

"See, Sonic? Shadow said he doesn't need help so you don't have to be forced into this anymore!" Amy tapped two of the chaos emeralds. "Let's go home and meet the others now, shall we?"

"Sorry Amy but I want to stay with Shadow. I already told Knuckles and Tails my plan but if you like, I can send you back home. You can tell me the entire story about how you came here when I'm done with Shadow's business."

Shadow stopped walking as one of his black ears was pointed to where Sonic's voice was coming from. 'So he's not leaving huh?' Shadow hated to confess but a small happiness crept up to him when he heard that Sonic would be with him for a little while.

"But Sonic! Let's just go home already!" Amy cried and Shadow rolled his eyes before he entered the portal by himself.

"S-Shadow! Wait up!" Sonic yelled. The blue hedgehog was scared that the portal to No Zone would close any minute. So he picked up Amy a little roughly and jumped into the portal.

"That was not cool, Shadow!" As soon as Sonic released Amy to the floor, he was about to give a nudge on the black hedgehog's shoulder. But the blue hero noticed that something was a little off. Shadow's mouth was partially opened and his eyes were widely opened. "What's wrong Sha…. What the….?!"

"This is… No Zone right?" Shadow whispered the question that would not be answered by Sonic or Amy. The place that they were in looked horrible. Few dead bodies were everywhere and there were medical people walking back and forth to treat injured zone cops. The purple crystals, indicating Mephiles, went through everything and practically destroyed half of the building.

'What happened to Zonic?' Shadow thought to himself as he touched the dimensional gun.

* * *

**(Well... this is what I have in mind for the next chapter) **

"This time Mephiles went too far," Sonic gritted his teeth and closed his eyes to block the horrible image of Zonic resting on the bed. The whole feeling of envy and jealousy washed away from Sonic's heart completely when he saw the horrible condition that Zonic was in. He never thought he would see the day when his alternate version would look so helpless and hurt.

"Sonic…" Amy trailed off and decided to leave the room.

"Don't worry Zonic, I'm going to solve this problem so youu promise me that you'll feel better soon, okay?" Sonic forced a bright smile from his teary eyes. "Let's go Shadow, we have some criminals to capture."

"You go ahead first," Shadow murmured and continued to observe Zonic with a glum look on his face.

The blue hero was upset to hear that Shadow wouldn't follow him but he couldn't force Shadow. 'Shadow did pay a lot of attention to Zonic anyways. It must hurt to see him like that right now.' Sonic also decided to step outside of the room but he wanted to wait for Shadow to come out as well.

Few minutes passed and Sonic decided to have a little peak at the window to see what Shadow was doing.

The black hedgehog had his hand on top of Zonic's forehead. Few seconds later, Shadow leaned down to the unconscious zone cop closer and closer until-

"…..!" Sonic quickly looked away from the window and did not finish looking at the scene. 'Wait, what in the world was Shadow doing?! Was he….? No way!' Sonic could feel his face getting a little warm as the mixture of disappointment rushed in. Before jumping into any conclusion, Sonic tried to think it carefully.

'Shadow and Zonic? There's no way…' Sonic swallowed hard and debated if he should peak just one more time to see what Shadow was doing to Zonic.

* * *

**I just noticed this is my longest chapter... 10,014 words! **

******Review please with the cherry on the top if you enjoyed this chapter :) **

**See you next time**


	13. Hang in There, Pal Don't Die on Me!

Everything was a mess. The crystals indicated that Mephiles was here but for how long and how much destruction did he cause? There were medical staffs and other zone cop who were supposed to be the backups shouting at each other for status reports and helping out other injured people. Shadow rapidly moved his eyes and was able to stop the familiar looking zone cop that he met earlier in the cafeteria. The black hedgehog waved his hand a little to get the other's attention.

"Please tell me you're Shadow and not Zhadow," the zone cop, who was apparently a large blue bird squinted his eyes as if something horrible was going to happen.

"Zhadow? Wait, are you saying that he was here as well?" Shadow quickly asked and took out Zonic's dimensional gun from his waist to prove that he was one of Zonic's friends. When the blue bird detected Zonic's personal signature engraved on the gun, he finally let his guard down.

"Thank heavens, you are Shadow! You have no idea what happened while you, Sonic prime and… uh… who is this?" The zone cop pointed at the pink hedgehog who was right behind Sonic.

"Hello there! I'm Amy Rose, also known as Sonic's girl friend!" said Amy and Sonic gave himself a face palm before shaking his head in disagreement.

"Right…." The bird shifted his attention back to Shadow, "Anyways, not only Zhadow appeared but Scourge was able to escape the prison because of this guy name-"

"Mephiles," Shadow growled and gritted his teeth. It was bad enough that Mephiles made his life miserable by framing Shadow into doing something evil but now he got involved with Zonic as well. It took a lot of self control for Shadow to keep himself calm and not yell to the poor zone cop in front of him.

"Woah there! So are you telling me that Mephiles, Scourge and Zhadow teamed up or something like that?" asked the blue hedgehog.

"….. I'm afraid so. But right now we're busy taking care of the injured patients and bringing some more backups. You never know when those three are going to strike again."

The ultimate life form looked around and tried to look for the elite zone cop. There were a lot of cops running around with panic mixed with anger expression on their faces but Zonic was nowhere to be found. Shadow swallowed hard as he hoped nothing really bad happened to him.

'I don't get it… where're Zonic?' Shadow thought to himself as he scanned the destroyed environment. The blue bird seemed to realize who the black hedgehog was looking for.

"O-our boss is… is badly injured," the blue bird sighed, "He's in that room. Right now he's still unconscious and we're not sure when he's going to wake up."

"Zonic is unconscious?!" Shadow finally raised his voice and the blue hero quickly glanced at the black hedgehog next to him. Shadow had a pure worried expression on his face and Sonic couldn't help but to feel a slight disappointment in his chest.

"What happened to him?" Sonic spoke up while Amy tried to understand everything that was presented to her.

"Well… he was fine handling both Scourge and Zhadow at the same time. But I heard that things got bad when Mephiles also started to launch his attack as well."

"That is so not fair! Three against one?!" yelled Sonic "Where is Zonic right now?"

"Since you are a close friend with our Boss, I'll take you guys to the room where he is resting right now, Sonic prime," said the zone cop as he made a hand gesture to the three hedgehogs to follow him.

"Sonic, what's going on?" Amy finally got the notion that something serious was happening and she did not like it one bit.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

**(Back in No Zone Space Colony Ark)**

"Why Hello there~" Scourge waved to the screen computer that had a image or none other than Black Doom.

"I see you found yourself another slave to work for you, Mephiles," Black Doom observed the green hedgehog and it only took him a second to realize that Scourge resembled the blue hero in so many ways. This of course annoyed the alien to a high degree.

"So far we have two chaos emeralds in our hands. Zhadow was supposed to retrieve the third one but something came up and he failed to so do," Mephiles hissed under his breath when he remembered why Zhadow couldn't get the yellow chaos emerald. 'I didn't know an incomplete ultimate life form would be that useless,' the dark hedgehog rolled his eyes.

"Two chaos emeralds are not enough!" The dark voice roared across the computer monitor, "I hope we are still discussing about the same deal we had before."

"I bring five chaos emeralds and in return, you shall grant me unlimited power that can make Shadow fall to his knee," Mephiles reminded Black Doom.

"I don't get it, there are seven chaos emeralds, why do you guys only need five?" The green hedgehog scratched his ear in confusion and hoped that one of the two would answer his question.

"Ever since Shadow brought destruction to my army, I needed to have the power source from at least five chaos emeralds to restore everything in place. When my army is reinforced and are given powers from those emeralds, I will quickly launch another invasion to those pity humans," replied Black Doom.

'Hmm, Stripes must be a badass if he was able to stop Mephiles and Black Doom.' Scourge laughed at his own comment but decided to keep it to himself.

"But the power that you gave to me is not enough for me to stop Shadow. I no longer have the power from the Iblis may I remind you," said Mephiles as he turned one of his gloved hand into a fist, "You have to grant me a little more power if you want me to retrieve rest of the chaos emeralds."

"I can't keep granting you more and more powers without receiving my part of the payment!" Black Doom raised his voice but of course, Mephiles was unaffected by this.

"Fine. I'll give you this white chaos emerald right now but I expect to receive more power from you. Something that I can torture Shadow with." Mephiles took out the glowing chaos emerald and this caught Black Doom's attention right away.

"What about the other emerald? You said you collected two so far," Black Doom looked around but failed to find the second chaos emerald.

"Zahdow is taking it out for a spin," Scourge replied and received a glare from Mephiles in return.

"Very well. You give me that one emerald for now and I shall give you a little bit more power in return, but you better give me four more emeralds as soon as possible. What do you plan to do with Shadow anyways?"

"Death is something that he will receive the last since I don't want to kill him off too soon. I am planning to ruin Shadow's reputation in the society so everyone's heart will be filled with hatred against him. Some torturing and suffering are in my mind…" Mephiles trailed off.

"Maybe you shouldn't kill him at all," Black Doom finally caught some interest in Mephiles' words since the alien also had some grudge against the ultimate life form, "Giving death to Shadow wouldn't be the correct revenge. But, allowing him to suffer both physically and mentally for eternity now that is something that you and I can both enjoy."

"I assume we are both in the same boat when it comes to our grudges against Shadow," Mephiles gave out a cynical laughter that echoed in the empty Ark, "Please do tell me more what you have in mind."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~

**(Back to No Zone Zone Cop Facility with Sonic, Shadow and Amy)**

Sonic, Shadow and Amy entered the room where the bird zone cop pointed and they couldn't believe their eyes. Both of the male hedgehogs slightly had their mouth opened at the horrible image presented in front of them while Amy blinked a couple of times in confusion.

"Wait, I don't understand. How come there are two Sonics?!" Amy shouted and turned her attention to the blue blur.

"That's Zonic, Amy. He's a different version of me in No Zone," Sonic said quietly and walked closer to the lifeless hedgehog. "This time Mephiles went too far!" Sonic gritted his teeth and closed his eyes to block the horrible image of Zonic. The whole feeling of envy and jealousy washed away from Sonic's heart completely when he saw the awful condition that Zonic was in. He never thought he would see the day when his alternate version would look so helpless and hurt.

"Sonic…" Amy trailed off. 'I don't really know who this Zonic is but I guess he is a close friend to Sonic. Maybe I should give him some room and wait outside. I mean, it not like I can help him anyways in this situation right now,' Amy nodded to herself and believed that it would be smart for her to leave the room at this moment.

"Don't worry Zonic, I'm going to solve this problem so you promise me that you'll feel better soon, okay?" Sonic forced a bright smile from his teary eyes. The blue hedgehog hoped that Zonic would stir up from his sleep and reply to his encouraging words just like in story books or movies but nothing happened. Zonic still had his eyes closed. "Let's go Shadow, we have some criminals to capture."

"You go ahead first," Shadow murmured and continued to observe Zonic with a glum look on his face. The black hedgehog also walked and stood right next to Zonic's bed without saying anything.

The blue hero was upset to hear that Shadow wouldn't follow him outside but he couldn't force Shadow. 'Shadow did pay a lot of attention to Zonic anyways. It must hurt to see him like that right now.' Sonic also decided to step outside of the room but he wanted to wait for Shadow to come out as well.

"Hey Sonic!" the pink hedgehog waved with a huge smile on her face when Sonic came out from Zonic's room, "So how are you feeling there?"

"Eh.. I guess today's just not my day Amy," Sonic had his ears folded down.

"Not your day? What are you talking about Sonic! I know your friend got hurt but look on the bright side! Amy Rose is here to cheer you up!" Amy spun around and literally flashed pink hearts to Sonic.

"Y-yeah. Which reminds me, can you go and grab me something to drink Amy? I'm getting a little thirsty here," said Sonic. To be honest, he wasn't really in a mood to talk to Amy right now but he didn't want to look mean in front of his friend either.

"Say no more darling! I will be right back and then we can talk about how I was able to find you!" Amy jumped and ran in opposite direction to ask someone where she can get some drinks.

"And I thought she would never leave," Sonic chuckled and turned his head around to the closed Zonic's room. The image of Shadow's worried expression flashed into Sonic's mind and he didn't know how to deal with his current situation. Sonic had to admit, he was a little jealous that Shadow showed so much concern to Zonic, but at the same time, the blue hero felt bad that this whole situation happened to the elite zone cop in the first place.

'Well first things first. I have to wait until Shadow comes out from that room,' Sonic reminded himself.

Few minutes passed and the blue hedgehog was surprised that Amy still didn't return from her quest to get him some water. Then again, everything in No Zone was all confusing and people were still busy trying to get this place tidy up from the previous battle. Sonic tapped his foot impatiently when a certain black hedgehog didn't come out from Zonic's room. So he decided to have a little peak at the window to see what Shadow was doing by tip-toeing.

The black hedgehog had his hand on top of Zonic's forehead. Sonic could see that Shadow exhaled some air out from his mouth as he gently closed his black eye lids. Few seconds later, Shadow leaned down to the unconscious zone cop closer and closer until-

"…..!" Sonic hastily looked away from the window and did not finish looking at the scene. 'Wait, what in the world was Shadow doing?! Was he….? No way!' Sonic could feel his face getting a little warm as the mixture of disappointment rushed in. Before jumping into any conclusion, Sonic tried to think it out carefully.

'Shadow and Zonic? There's no way…' Sonic swallowed hard and debated if he should peak just one more time to see what Shadow was doing to Zonic.

While our little blue hero had his mind all confused with the image of Shadow and Zonic kissing, this is what really happened between the two hedgehogs in the room.

Shadow thought that if Zonic was really an alternative version of Sonic the Hedgehog then the elite zone cop should have some hidden chaos energy flowing inside him as well. Probably not as much as himself and Sonic since Zonic does not use the power of the chaos emerald but Shadow still wanted to check for himself.

'If Zonic's body has some component of chaos energy then maybe giving off some of mine can help a little…' Shadow thought to himself as he closed his eyes and placed his hand on top of Zonic's forehead. The ultimate life form could feel a little bit of energy sensation rising up in his right arm but it was a very weak signal.

"Would you benefit just a little if I share some of my energy to you?" whispered Shadow. The ultimate life form knew that he wouldn't receive any response from Zonic. Just then, from the corner of Shadow's red eyes, he saw Zonic mouth moving as the the elite zone cop tried to say something in his sleep.

"….? Is he talking in his sleep?" said Shadow as he focused to words that Zonic murmured. 'I can't really comprehend what he's trying to say…' thought Shadow. The black hedgehog didn't realize that he started to lean closer and closer to the elite zone cop until he was only few centimeters away from Zonic's face. Shadow's ears focused on to Zonic's mouth to catch any types of phrase.

"….adow…." Zonic spoke softly.

"….?" Shadow tired to direct his whole attention to Zonic's voice.

"…hadow… Shadow… please be safe," said Zonic as he struggled under the bed sheet. The ultimate life form was surprised that Zonic said his own name and not Zhadow's. Does that mean Zonic was dreaming about him right now? But why? The black hedgehog blinked a couple of times before pulling away from Zonic and gave out a curious expression on his face.

Unfortunately for Shadow, Sonic was not the only one who had the misunderstanding. Zhadow the ex zone cop was hiding himself behind one of the bookshelf that belong to Zonic. When Zhadow saw what Shadow was doing to Zonic from his point of view, he also thought the exact same thing as Sonic.

'Don't tell me that idiot just kissed Zonic.' Zhadow tried to control his anger. It was true that Zhadow tried to hate Zonic many times but when the ex-zone cop thought about his past lover being with somebody other than him, he definitely did not like that idea at all.

'If he thinks he can comfort Zonic than he has another thing coming,' thought Zhadow as he reached into his left side of the yellow belt that was attached to his zone cop uniform. It only took a few seconds until Zhadow found what he was looking for. It was a small gun that was only few inches long but this was not an ordinary gun used to capture illegal inmates.

'It's good thing I always carry this baby around,' Zhadow took out the small gun that had the title anti-chaos labeled.

The ex-zone cop knew that this gun was no longer in production anymore since the only one that knows the formula to create this special weapon was the scientist who created Zhadow himself. Unfortunately, Zhadow believed that his creator died because of Zonic's destruction to the Ark.

'If I remember correctly, one shot of this gun has the ability to convert chaos energy into a high concentration of carbon dioxide. Wonder if Shadow would like to be my little test subject," Zhadow smiled and observed the ultimate life form.

The ex-zone cop knew that his job was only to collect chaos emeralds and give them back to Mephiles. Mephiles did promised a sweet revenge to Zonic for betraying him in the Ark and also the power of an ultimate life form which Zhadow can use. The dark hedgehog specifically told Zhadow that Shadow's suffering should only be caused by him. That was the clear rule.

'Sorry Mephiles but you know rules are there to be broken,' Zhadow placed the anti-chaos gun back to his small left pocket. 'Time to have some fun with this so called the ultimate life form.'

"I see you have some interest to Zonic there," Zhadow stopped hiding behind the bookshelf and revealed himself to Shadow. The black hedgehog didn't look surprise as he turned his attention to the ex-zone cop.

"Actually, I already knew that you would be the kind to sneak around," said Shadow. Shadow already knew that Zhadow was hiding from him and that was one of the reasons why the ultimate life form refused to leave Zonic's room. Shadow didn't want Zhadow to launch another attack to defenseless Zonic so he stayed behind to protect the elite zone cop.

"Well I guess they don't just call you an ultimate life form," Zhadow smirked as he took out the red chaos emerald and sucked some of its energy. Unlike Shadow, Zhadow needed to have some source of chaos energy in order for him to skate at a high speed. The red emerald fulfilled its duty and Zhadow turned on his rocket shoes at a full blast. "Chaos spear!" He made a hand motion and destroyed the wall that was behind him.

"So you made an exit. Don't you dare think that I'm going to let you run away like that after what you did to Sonic and Zonic," Shadow hissed which caused him to reveal the sharp fangs.

"So I kidnapped Sonic prime and injured Zonic, big deal," Zhadow tried to stay composed as possible but it was hard when you have your ex-lover suffering in bed "What are you going to do about it?"

"How about getting broken into pieces," Shadow barked and he skated with his full speed towards the ex-zone cop. Zhadow already knew this was going to happen so he threw another chaos spear as a quick distract Shadow. While the ultimate life form easily dodged the attack, Zhadow jumped out from the newly created exit and skated into the opposite side of the direction.

"Get back here!" Shadow screamed and he also followed Zhadow.

Of course, Sonic felt the rumbling of the floor when Zhadow used his first chaos spear to destroy the wall. At first he thought it was nothing but when the blue blur realized that the all of the windows in this building was actually sound proof, he quickly opened the door to see Zonic sleeping next to a giant hole in the wall.

"Shadow?! Where did you go?!" Sonic screamed and looked around but the black hedgehog was nowhere to be seen.

"Sonic! I'm bac-what happened here!" Amy dropped two cups of water that took hours to find when she saw the giant hole which connected to the outside. "Sonic! Why would you make a hole in this room?"

"I didn't do it Amy! Somebody must have came in and I think Shadow followed to stop whoever that might have been," said Sonic. 'Don't worry Shadow, I'm going to be right behind you.'

When the blue blur got himself into the jumping position, the pink hedgehog quickly grabbed one of Sonic's leg and refused to let him go. Sonic stopped himself from and looked down to meet with Amy's angry eyes.

"And where do you think you're going Sonic?" Amy said in her high tone.

"Amy! Shadow is missing! I have to go and-"

"No you don't Sonic!" Amy interrupted and used her female charm to get the upper advantage, "Sonic, sometimes I wonder if you even care about me or not. I mean, I understand that you need to do your hero duty and I would totally let you go if you were helping Tails or even Knuckles but Shadow? He can pretty much take care of himself!"

"But Amy-" Sonic stuttered but was not able to finish what he wanted to say.

"Shadow keeps repeating that he is an ultimate life form which means, he does not always need you to be there for him, Sonic. How long do I have to tolerate with you running away from me like that…." Amy's eyes got teary and she knew that one of Sonic's weakness was seeing anyone cry in front of him.

"Amy please…" Sonic raised both of his hands in the air.

'Bingo~' Amy let out a huge grin inside but there was no way she was going to drop her perfect performance right now. She squinted her eyes a little more and a stream of tear fell next to her cheek. "And when you leave to help Shadow, who is going to help me?! I don't know anyone in this place and I'm going to be scared Sonic!"

When the pink hedgehog noticed that Sonic was still being a little skeptical, she decided to literally cry with her knee on the ground. It's been a while since Amy used her tear attack on Sonic but this made it seem more realistic since Sonic didn't see Amy cry in a while. Fountains of tear poured out from Amy's eyes as Sonic quickly ran up to the pink hedgehog with a sorry look on his face.

"P-Please don't cry Amy," Sonic placed both of his arms on Amy's shoulder to get her attention. "I'm sorry if I was not acting on my best behavior. You know me, I can get too worried with Shadow sometimes," Sonic chuckled.

'I just hope Shadow is going to be okay just like what you said, Amy…' Sonic looked back at the broken wall and felt a cool air rushing into the Zonic's room.

Mean while, the ultimate life form was a little suspicious of Zhadow's action. It was as if the ex-zone cop was purposely slowing down a little just to make sure Shadow as following him correctly without getting lost in the No Zone.

'What's he up too,' Shadow searched for possibilities but he knew too little about Zhadow which meant he had to be prepared for anything at this moment. Both Shadow and Zhadow passed through tall buildings, cars, civilians until they started to reach the more empty side of the No Zone. It looked a lot like a dessert except the temperature was not very hot and there vegetations growing on the land.

"Please don't tell me the great ultimate life form is already getting tired," Zhadow turned around to make sure Shadow tracked him without getting lost.

"You just know where to push my buttons," Shadow growled and increased his speed.

Just then, Zhadow turned around with a regular gun in his left hand. He aimed at Shadow carefully which was an easy task for him since this was his specialty. Shadow's eyes opened widely because he didn't expect Zhadow to start shooting while they were still running. Without saying any words, Zhadow shot the first gun but Shadow dodged it without breaking a sweat.

'I first need to analyze your evading strategy and pattern, Shadow.' The ex-zone cop gave a couple of more firing and soon enough, he was able to read Shadow's dodging pattern without any problem. Zhadow then took out the small anti-chaos gun from his left pocket.

'Now I just need to distract him a little,' Zhadow smirked, "Mephiles told me everything about you Shadow. How in the near future everyone is going to be against you because they will fear your ultimate power. He also said that Sonic prime would turn his back on you as well. I would love to see the look on your face when Sonic prime will finally show hatred towards you, Shadow."

"You're absurd," Shadow shortly replied but he was a little skeptical. Sonic is a hero and if people and GUN feared him then wouldn't Sonic try to stop and capture him as well? Even though Shadow didn't do anything wrong, if that's what people wanted then Sonic would eventually do it... right?

When Zhadow noticed a little hinder in Shadow's skating movement, he pretended to pull the trigger of the anti-chaos gun. Shadow detected Zhadow's hand movement and roughly tried to dodge it in his usual pattern.

"I got you now!" Zhadow promptly lifted his arm to his predicted Shadow's movement and fired the trigger. The small bullet landed perfectly onto Shadow's right shoulder as the black hedgehog yelped in pain and this dramatically decreased Shadow's speed. Zhadow also decided to stop with the running and gave a hint to Shadow that he wasn't planning to run away from him.

"Wha…what?" Shadow used his left hand to touch the part where the bullet went through. There were some blood seeping out and dripping on to his black fur but that wasn't a huge concern for the black hedgehog. Shadow tried to analyze and see if the injury was anything serious.

"It's ridiculous that you think this small bullet is going to stop me," Shadow smirked and rubbed the area where the bullet entered his body.

"That's impossible! I thought you would have taken some damage!" Zhadow pretended to act like he was in trouble but there was another devious plan he had in his mind. 'Now that the anti-chaos bullet in his body, I just have to provoke Shadow to use some chaos attacks. The bullet's effect should take care of that so called ultimate life form.'

"I've been hit by bullets before during battles and they don't stop me so you better think of another way to defeat me," said Shadow.

"But I bet even you can't remover yourself from chaos attack. Chaos Spear!" Zhadow waved his hands and a massive group of yellow lightning came out from nowhere.

"Chaos Spear," Shadow also used his own signature chaos attack to counter the ex-zone cop. What Shadow failed to see was the satisfied grin that his alternate form created on his lips.

"You know for someone called as an ultimate life form, you sure are pretty weak," Zhadow rolled his eyes and hoped that this would trigger more of Shadow's anger, "I was able to kidnap Sonic prime easily because you are too slow for me, Shadow the Hedgehog."

The ultimate life form used chaos control with the purple emerald but when he appeared in front of Zhadow and tried to give him a low kick attack, Zhadow used his metal hands to easily contradict the attack.

"Compared to me, you are weak in strength as well. I can stop your attack with just one hand, I wonder if you are capable of doing that Shadow?" Zhadow smirked and used his left hand to give a full strength punch to Shadow who quickly dodged it. 'I need Shadow to use a large amount of chaos energy at once… how should I persuade him to do that,' Zhadow thought to himself. He smiled when the image of Sonic prime flashed into his mind.

"I also would like to inform you that I just contacted with Mephiles and Scourge," said the ex-zone cop and this certainly caught Shadow's attention.

"What are you talking-"

"While I am dealing with you, Mephiles and Scourge went back to the zone cop building so we can finish the job. I heard that Sonic prime is there as well and Mephiles wanted to capture him," said Zhadow as he tossed his own red chaos emerald.

Shadow's muscles tensed when he heard Sonic's name that escaped from Zhadow. The ultimate life form certainly didn't like to hear Mephiles' name being called out as well.

"What is he going to do with Sonic?" Shadow gritted his teeth as he clutched both of his hands tightly.

"Mephiles wants to absorb some chaos energy inside Sonic prime before killing him off himself," said Zhadow as he continued to make up a complete lie, "But you and I both know Mephiles. He loves to torture his victims until they beg for mercy, Wouldn't you like to see that for yourself, Shadow?"

"You better leave Sonic alone, Zhadow," shouted Shadow. 'I should go back to that hedgehog. He really could be in trouble with Mephiles and Scourge at this time,' Shadow tired to avoid having the feeling of panic attack as he concentrated his energy to use chaos control. The ex-zone realized that Shadow was about to use chaos control.

"Mephiles was right, you are a coward!" Zhadow grinned darkly and laughed. "Running away from me because you know that you can't defeat me unless you get some help from Sonic prime."

Shadow could feel his veins pulsing as his frustration level surpassed the regular tolerance level. The ultimate life form's body started to glow red indicated that he was extremely pissed off at Zhadow for not only calling him a coward but stating that he needed Sonic's help during the battle.

"I do not need anyone's help to take you down, Zhadow," Shadow growled and the ex-zone cop's smile disappeared as he felt a huge wave of chaos energy just building up from Shadow, and then-

"Chaos Blast!"

With that a huge explosion took place and Zhadow did not even had the time to teleport himself out from the danger zone. The ex-zone cop felt a heating fire mixed with a sharp pain created from the chaos energy stabbing every part of his skin. With his sensitive ears, Zhadow also heard his uniform ripping in different parts as his body flew few feet away from Shadow. When the ex-zone cop opened his eyes, the whole with trees and grasses were gone and this shocked Zhadow a lot. Shadow noticed the apprehension on Zhadow's face as he started to walk closer to his enemy.

"That is not even closer to the full power that I truly possess," said Shadow as the red aura started to build up again.

'Maybe the anti-chaos bullet really doesn't have an effect on a true product of the ultimate life-'

"….?! Arrg…..!" Shadow closed his eyes and bit his lips as his whole body started to feel heavy and most of all, oxygen less. The black hedgehog fell to his knee instantly and Zhadow's smile of contentment slowly returned.

"Are you having a little problem breathing, Shadow?" said Zhadow. He stood up from the flood and kicked harshly to Shadow's stomach causing the black hedgehog to yelp in pain and roll over to the other side.

'It feels like there is no more air…' thought the black hedgehog. Shadow only focused on to his breathing but his efforts were futile. Every breath Shadow took, he felt like his throat burning with acid as his lungs did their best to suck even the smallest amount of oxygen. Shadow inhaled deeply but was only greeted by a heavy feeling inside of his body as a new sharp pain in the head started to kick in.

"That bullet you just got hit with is no ordinary weapon," Zhadow explained, "It was produced by my own creator as an emergency weapon against me if I malfunctioned during the engineering process."

"Just get to the point," Shadow hissed and roughly grabbed his own chest fur to distract himself from the inner suffering.

"Very inpatient, aren't you?" Zhadow smirked and pinned Shadow to the floor by holding the ultimate life form on to his neck, "Once the anti-chaos bullet is inside your body, it will not activate unless the bullet sense a presence of chaos energy. The more chaos energy it sense, the activation feedback will be a lot stronger."

"….." Shadow struggled violently under Zhadow's grasp.

"And what is this anti chaos bullet do you may ask? Once it receives enough signals from the chaos energy, it starts to develop the same amount of carbon dioxide. In short, the more chaos attack you used, the more carbon dioxide buildup will occur in your body and we both know what happens to our body once it accumulates too much," Zhadow whispered into Shadow's ear.

Shadow's face turned red as heat started to build up from the center of his body to the top of the head. It felt like his throat was closing up as Shadow panted even more. His eye muscles felt very heavy and the headache grew painfully. Few seconds later, the ultimate life form felt nauseous and didn't have any energy to free himself from Zhadow's body weight on top of him.

'Of course I know what happens if Co2 builds up,' Shadow frowned and thought about the worst case scenario, 'Acid blood level, central nervous system damage, organ failure… I'm not sure if my body is capable of surviving this…' Shadow's thought trailed off. Every breath he took, the anti-chaos bullet immediately turned not only his chaos energy but also fresh oxygen into carbon dioxide.

"Looks like you won't even have energy to fight anymore," Zhadow smiled and stood up from the black hedgehog below him, "Should I let you die slowly or watch you die from the bullet's effect?"

Shadow wanted to refute back but he didn't want to waste his breath, literally, back talking to Zhadow.

"You annoyed me the first time we met, playing around with Zonic and showing off your powers like that."

Zhadow lifted his right hand and landed it hard on Shadow's stomach. The black hedgehog screamed in pain as he coughed out some blood. 'What the hell? Are his hands made out of metals or something?!' Shadow winced more in pain.

"Come on ultimate life form, show me what you got," Zhadow made a hand gesture for Shadow to attack him.

'This… isn't… going to end well…' Shadow moaned in pain and tried to get up with his shaky legs.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"Sonic~~~~~~~ Don't leave me here!" Amy was on the floor dangling on to the blue hero's leg.

'I didn't realize it but man! Amy is really heavy' Sonic pouted and shook his legs a little bit more. Sonic's worry started to grow when Shadow didn't return from wherever he went. When if that stubborn black hedgehog followed Mephiles?

"Amy, please!" Sonic turned to the floor where the female hedgehog was, "I have to find Shadow and see what's taking him so long to come back. Aren't you worry that something might have happened to him?" the blue blur pleaded.

"Or you could be just overreacting. Maybe Shadow decided not to come back because he wants to have some time alone. Just like how I want to spend some alone time with y-" Amy stopped ranting when Sonic lifted her up in a bridal style. The pink hedgehog blushed madly and screamed in joy, "Oh Sonic! So you do want to spend some time with me! You could have just said so but I guess this is one romantic way of telling me," she giggled.

Sonic quickly ran next to Zonic's bed, "Hey Zonic, hope you don't mind watching my friend in your sleep right?" asked Sonic.

"What are you talking.. S-Sonic! Get back here!" Amy yelled to the top of her lung as Sonic dropped her gently to the floor and used his speed to jump out of the building. Once he landed safely, he decided to run to the direction where he saw some traces of burned mark on the street, probably from Shadow and Zhadow's hover skates.

'Wonder where Shadow could be!' Sonic sighed in a slight annoyance as he increased his speed more and more. The blue hedgehog hoped that he was going to the correct direction in the first place. It only took Sonic few seconds until he was in the similar location where Shadow and Zhadow were.

Sonic stopped running when he realized that it was harder to detect hover skates marks anymore as he looked around for more clues.

"Shadow~~~" Sonic raised his voice, "Come out come out where ever you are~!" the blue hedgehog chuckled. But his soft laughter stopped right away and his smile vanished when he saw the horrifying site few feet in front of him.

There was Shadow on the floor and it looked like he could pass out any minute. There were few traces of blood on the ground which probably came from the ultimate life form since there were blood marks on his lips as well. Shadow's stomach moved up and down in a rapid speed indicating that he was inhaling and exhaling really fast. Right next to Shadow, the ex-zone cop smirked at Shadow's misery and roughly picked up Shadow with one hand near his throat. The black hedgehog made some gagging noise and Sonic picked up this noise right away.

"Put him down, Zhadow!" Sonic growled and charged towards Shadow and Zhadow with full speed.

"…..S..Sonic….?" Shadow managed to let out one word before he received a punch from Zhadow's hard metal hands and landed harshly on the floor.

"Hello there Sonic prime, I thought you would be back in the zone cop facility taking care of Zonic for me," said Zhadow.

But the blue hero ignored Zhadow's comment as he dashed next to nearly unconscious hedgehog, "Shadow! Shadow! Are you alright?!"

Shadow tried to form any word but his body was low on oxygen. Shadow could feel his heart and lung malfunctioning and his thinking process started to slow down. The PH level in the black hedgehog's body reached to its most dangerous level.

"Never mind, Shadow," said Sonic, "I have to take you back and get help! Maybe…. Maybe those medical guys back at Zonic's place can help you!" the blue hedgehog sounded hopeful.

"That's not going to happened Sonic prime. Shadow was hit by an anti-chaos bullet. The bullet is capable of altering chaos energy into a useless gas. Long story short as long as Shadow is alive, his body will be accumulated with carbon dioxide no time."

"I think… he's telling the truth for once this time," Shadow cringed in throbbing pain in his chest.

"Tell me how to fix Shadow!" Sonic yelled with Shadow in his arms, "If you're the one that did this to him then you better know how to cure him too!"

'You really are dense Sonic prime, very different from Zonic,' Zhadow thought to himself with boredom, 'There is no reverse to this effect. I wonder if I can still play around with him though.'

"Maybe this is what you are looking for," said the ex-zone cop as he reached into his zone cop uniform pocket to take out a small two inch bottle. It was actually used for taking samples from the inmates during investigation but there was no way Sonic would know that. "But I don't think you would be fast enough to take it from me, Sonic prime."

"Why you…!" Sonic growled and his emerald eyes soaked with pure anger. Not to mention he was just a little ticked off for Zhadow calling him slow. Just then, the blue hedgehog felt a weak tug on his left arm. "Shadow?" Sonic voice shook a little.

"I-if you get…. hit by…. the anti-chaos… gun… try to avoid… releasing too much…chaos energy…" Shadow panted as he handed Sonic the purple emerald. Shadow knew that his time was running out.

"Hey… I don't rely too much on chaos energy like you Shadow," Sonic forced himself to smile to convince Shadow that everything was under his control, "Speed's my game, remember?"

Looking at Sonic and Shadow together caused Zhadow felt an unknown jealousy out of nowhere. He remembered the time when he and Zonic were once happy together 'If only Zonic didn't betray me like that,' Zhadow narrowed his eyes. 'Maybe it would have been better if I never found out about Zonic's secret with Mephiles' help…but if Zonic wanted to destroy me while I was unconscious then that means he never loved me in the first place!'

The ex-zone cop was sick of looking at the two hedgehogs together, "Just die Shadow the Hedgehog!" Zhadow shouted as he released massive chaos spears from the mid air.

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******Please review~ Oh wow... I'm making Shadow suffer a lot in this chapter 0_0 **

**I'm finally done with finals and now on Winter Break! yay~ **


	14. Rise of Dark Sonic

******Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Happy New Year and Yay! We all survived the Doom's Day! Black Doom didn't invade the Earth.. for now..lol**

**Hope you guys loved my replies to those that reviewed!**

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Yellow chaos spears appeared out of nowhere and most of them aimed their position towards Shadow. Sonic quickly grabbed Shadow and managed to leap away just in time to evade Zhadow's attack. Sonic could hear a low chuckle from the ex-zone cop which angered the blue hero even more.

"Hey, nice surprise attack," Sonic commented, "But let me tell you, I'm still ticked off about you calling me slow. Do you know the speed I'm capable of?"

"Why don't you show me that speed then, Sonic prime?" Zhadow challenged as he tucked away the empty bottle that had nothing to do with curing Shadow's condition. The ex-zone cop planned to play around with Sonic until he witness the death of so called the ultimate life form.

Sonic gritted his teeth as he used his full speed to charge right towards Zhadow. The blue hedgehog thought he would never be this pissed off at an enemy before. Even during his battles with Eggman, Sonic was never this mad at all! He felt his heart pumping faster every time when Sonic thought about the limited time he had for Shadow.

"So..nic, hold… hold.. on," Shadow let out a small groan as he tried to get himself of from the floor. Sonic was already far ahead of him when he finished calling out.

"I'm going to search you whether you like it or not, pal!" said Sonic when he was near Zhadow who just stood nonchalantly.

"As if I'm going to let you help Shadow that easily," Zhadow smirked and braced himself. If there was another bad thing about being an incomplete life form was the limited chaos energy he was allowed to perform per day. The ex-zone cop knew that he was running low even with the red chaos emerald with him. 'I just need to suck a little bit more chaos energy…' Zhadow thought to himself and tried to absorb as much as possible.

"Watch it!" Sonic shouted and launched a punch directly towards his enemy.

"Chaos Control!" Zhadow said quickly and managed to teleport right behind Sonic. Zhadow prepared to throw another chaos spear while Sonic turned himself into a spinning blue ball. When the ex-zone cop waved his hand, more groups of spears targeted to Sonic.

'I can take some hit, no problem!' thought Sonic and the blue hero decided to continue his spin dash to Zhadow. He could feel sharp sensation mostly at his back from chaos spears but Sonic simply gave out a painful grin on his face.

Zhadow's eyes widened when he realized that Sonic didn't hesitate even though he was getting hit by chaos spears. "Chaos Control!" he yelled again and dodged Sonic's attack just in time.

Sonic stopped himself from spinning when Zhadow vanished using the power of the emerald again. "Yo, you seriously need to stop using that chaos emerald. It's like you're addicted to that or something!" Sonic said with a half joking tone but deep inside the blue hero was annoyed at the chaos control.

"Are you jealous of my power to control the chaos emerald, perhaps?" Zhadow fought back.

Sonic narrowed his eyes as he pulled out the purple chaos emerald that he got from Shadow. Sonic doesn't enjoy relying too much on the power of the emerald but this was one situation where he also needed it the most.

"Don't get too cocky, Zhadow," Sonic smiled and glared at Zhadow.

"Wipe that smile off your face, Sonic prime," said Zhadow as the red chaos emerald glowed brightly indicating that he was about to use yet  
another chaos control.

'I just need to wait for that timing,' Sonic carefully analyzed Zhadow's hand and lips.

"Chaos control!" Zhadow shouted as he took out his anti-chaos gun. He planned to appear right behind Sonic and shoot him just like what he did to Shadow. Sonic opened his eyes extensively as he felt the chaos energy from his own emerald.

'I just hope this works!' Sonic squinted his eyes. "Chaos control…!"

Zhadow thought he would be behind Sonic but the blue hero was nowhere in sight. The ex-zone cop frowned, thinking that maybe he used his chaos control incorrectly?

"Looking for someone?" Sonic whispered right behind Zhadow's right ear as the ex-zone cop twitched.

"What the…?" Zhadow turned around but this time, he didn't have time to do anything. Sonic swiftly used his right leg to kick the anti-chaos gun that Zhadow had in his hand. The small gun flew in to the air and Sonic jumped up to smash it into pieces.

Zhadow could see his weapon breaking like a fragile glass and at the same time, he felt extremely apologetic for his creator. This was the only item that was left from his decreased creator and he allowed Sonic to destroy it just like that.

"You're not the only one that can use chaos control," Sonic growled and presented the purple chaos emerald.

It was true that Sonic was capable of using chaos control with one emerald but not as easy as how Shadow. The blue hero was also surprised at himself that this worked at a precise timing.

"So you're not that powerless than I thought," Zhadow clapped his hands to compliment Sonic.

"Yeah so you better watch out!" Sonic launched his whole body on to Zhadow who no longer had the power to manipulate the red chaos emerald anymore. Both hedgehogs continued to roll on the ground while Sonic tried to reach his hand to the yellow pocket. Sonic thought his hands were so close to opening that pocket located on to Zhadow's thin waist.

"Almost…. there….!" Sonic murmured to himself but the blue hero had to admit, Zhadow was indeed strong just like his rival.

"Get your hands off me!" Zhadow gritted his teeth and used his metal hands to punch directly to Sonic's stomach.

The blue hedgehog's emerald eyes constricted as he felt his whole muscle tightening to the center of his stomach. Sonic spit out some saliva and was actually thankful that it was not blood that he tasted inside of his mouth. Sonic landed with a little off balanced as he wiped his lips.

Even though Shadow sense his life draining out of him, he still tried to observe everything that was occurring between Sonic and Zhadow. The ultimate life form couldn't really understand why Sonic would try to help him out in the first place. If Zhadow was with them, there was a huge possibility that Mephiles and Scourge could be back at the No Zone police facility. Sonic should be there helping his friends not wasting his time here.

'How does he even know if Zhadow is telling the truth…' Shadow thought about the white bottle that Zhadow presented it to Sonic earlier, 'From what I'm seeing, Sonic's just gambling with Zhadow's words.'

Zhadow could be telling the truth about carrying the antidote but there was another chance that the ex-zone cop was making up a dirty lie. To Shadow, the latter one seemed more realistic.

"Put… your talent… to good use…" Shadow's voice sounded very low like a whisper behind Sonic. After many attempts, the ultimate life form was able to stand up straight to face Sonic.

"I am putting my speed into a good use!" Sonic met his emerald eyes with Shadow but winced when he realized the bad condition the ultimate life form was in, "I'm trying to save you!"

"No," Shadow gently shook his head, "…. Run. You… have to go back and-" Shadow gagged a little from lack of oxygen, "Zonic and what about your friends?"

"No way!" Sonic yelled in frustration, not wanting to think about abandoning Shadow, "Besides, they are strong. I bet our friends can handle their own situation. "

"Sonic… just-" Shadow had to fight back his heavy eye lids from closing any further and losing his conscious for good.

"No Shadow, you listen!" said Sonic as he turned around to face the black hedgehog, "I'm not going to let you leave me like what happened in Ark, okay?!"

"Don't waste your time try to help me!" Shadow yelled using his last breath. He felt his heart stop pumping as the acid blood accumulated his entire body. The black hedgehog quickly tried to intake any air but it seems like he was just trying to breath in the space. His whole muscles tensed very tightly as his brain started to shut down.

Zhadow was about to throw some more attacks to Sonic but he stopped himself when he saw Shadow frozen with a surprised look on his face.

"If I'm protecting someone I love then I'm not wasting my time at all, buddy," said Sonic but he quickly shut his mouth tightly to correct his mistake.

'…?! Okay, I so did not mean to say that I loud,' thought Sonic as he tried to find a way to fix his previous sentence.

"I mean… you know," Sonic faked a chuckle, "I love you as a good old fri-" But his smile faded away when he saw Shadow's eye lids closing as he fell on to his knee.

'Protecting…. someone he….' Shadow tried to recall what Sonic just said to him. The black hedgehog had trouble fighting his heavy eye lids and the only image he could see was a blue figure running towards him in blurry slow motion.

With an incomplete thought process, Shadow finally closed his eyes and fell to the floor flat on his face like a lifeless doll.

"Finally, that so called ultimate life form is out for good," Zhadow gave out a sinister laughter while Sonic reached to his fallen friend.

The blue hedgehog frantically moved his emerald eyes back and forth to see if he could detect any kind of slight movements. From the top of Shadow's quills from the bottom of his rocket shoes, he was staying still as if life was completely drained out from him. The whole world silenced around Sonic and the only thing he could see in his perspective was the unresponsive ultimate life from in front of him. The blue hero thought he stopped breathing when his full attention was on Shadow, searching for any signs of life.

There was a huge silence between them before Sonic opened his mouth carefully to speak.

"G-Give it back!" yelled the blue hedgehog as he turned around to face Zhadow, "Maybe I can still save him! Yeah that's it! There's still time for me to save Shadow!"

"Like I said, I have no intention to help you," said Zhadow and he took out the empty glass.

'Is he going to hand it over?' Sonic thought to himself with his eyes filled with hope.

It was then when it happened. Zhadow gently released his fingers to allow the empty bottle, that he lied to Sonic about being the antidote, to the floor. After the ex-zone cop glared at Sonic with an amusing look on his face, Zhadow roughly stepped on to the bottle causing it to smash into pieces.

Sonic gasped as his eyes widens at a horrible site.

"NO! What did you to that for?!" Sonic yelled to the top of his lungs.

Zhadow just shrugged as if it was really a no big deal for him and didn't say anything to the blue hedgehog in return. 'It was fun toying around with him, thinking that he can actually save Shadow,' Zhadow chuckled to himself.

"Sha-Shadow?" Sonic turned his attention back to Shadow and used his right hand to reach out for the black hedgehog. "Come on there, stop joking around, this is not cool," Sonic gave out a weak laughter.

Shadow did not move a single muscle from the floor.

Sonic gripped his hands rightly and few seconds later, he gently placed his hands on to Shadow's body and flipped him over so he can see his face.

"Hey there, wake up now. You still have to see how I'm going to beat Zhadow!" Sonic bit his lips and tapped on to Shadow's cheek softly.

Still no response.

"Shadow….?" Sonic felt not only his hands but his entire body shaking. "Shads?"

"You're pathetic as ever, Sonic prime. Can't you tell that he's no longer alive?" Zhadow slowly walked over to Sonic and Shadow to observe the corpse with his own eyes. Despite the peaceful looks on Shadow's face which irritated the ex-zone cop, Shadow looked dead. He didn't see any signs of breathing and Zhadow smiled in victory at last. 'I hated Shadow from the beginning anyways.'

Zhadow noticed that Sonic finally released his purple chaos emerald next to him. 'It looks like Sonic prime wouldn't mind if I take his emerald away,' thought the ex-zone cop. He slowly snatched the emerald and stared into his own reflection.

"What happened….? You said you're an ultimate life form…" Sonic spoke softly as he shut his eyes tightly. The blue hero could feel a small stream of tear falling own on to the right side of his cheek. Tears? It's been a while since Sonic cried for someone.

Sonic could remember the day when Cosmo sacrificed her life in order to save everyone. It was painful to say goodbye to such a good friend, not to mention it was hard for Sonic to see Tails so upset over Cosmo's death, but he didn't shed a single tear. When Sonic had the Werehog problem, he remembered the time when his good friend Chip had to finally leave his side. Again, Sonic felt a little depressed but he was able to tolerate the pain pretty well. Now that Sonic think about it, there were many times when he witnessed is friends dying because of many situations. It wasn't like the blue hero didn't care about his friend. He was just able to keep his optimistic personality take over when he felt melancholy. Sonic was able to tolerate his past losses but it seemed like the death of Shadow was going to be harder to handle than he thought.

For some reason, the current situation hurt his chest so much than before.

'Shadow didn't deserve this,' Sonic heard his own voice repeating over and over again.

"Well, if you don't have anything to say to me Sonic prime, I should really get going," said Zhadow as he carried both the red and the purple chaos emerald. The ex-zone cop turned his back against Sonic and started to walk in the opposite direction.

'Don't waste my time trying to help you? Don't make me laugh Shadow. It's obvious that you were suffering.' Sonic continued to keep his head low and replayed the same scene of Shadow falling to the floor.

"You should be thankful that I'm leaving you alone," Zhadow added to his last comment but his attention came right back to the two chaos emerald that he held in both of his hands. The red and purple chaos emerald started to glow but this time it was a little different. The brightness was very low as if they were losing their colors. "What's wrong with these things?!"

Sonic on the other hand started to feel a stir of cryptic energy pulsing through his vein. Sonic thought about how unfair Shadow's death was and how it was his own fault for allowing this to happen in the first place and these negative emotions began to consume the blue hero. Anger, loathing, hatred, vengeance and lust to kill started to grow as Sonic's blue quills soaked in darkness. Not to mention the dark aura strongly revolved around the blue hedgehog as Zhadow turned around.

'What the?!' The ex-zone cop blinked in confusion mixed with a hint of fear, 'What's happening with Sonic prime?!'

Zhadow could see the transformation happening to Sonic. The blue color turned into a pitch dark color and his quills gave an upward trend because of the new but dangerous chaos energy flowing inside him. The emerald green pupils were nowhere to be seen which caused Sonic's eyes to look pure white. The dark blue aura continued to consume Sonic and this scared Zhadow a little to the point where he didn't realize he was stepping away from the creature.

The dark hedgehog placed his hand on top of Shadow's head and gave a small apologetic stroke before standing up to face Zhadow who was a little further away from him.

"Aww, I'm thankful that you planned to leave me alone," said dark Sonic with a disturbing smirk, "Too bad I don't plan to leave you alone though."

"….. W-what. Are you Sonic prime?" asked Zhadow as he dropped both of chaos emeralds to the floor.

"Let's see if revenge can really be sweet!" dark Sonic shrieked with a lower tone as he charged towards the unprepared ex-zone cop.

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**Sorry if this chapter felt a little shorter than my usual ones. We all know how busy people can be during holidays with friends and families hehheh. **

**Please review~ **

**And here's a hint.. if Shadow dies... then this wouldn't be a sonadow story because Sonic and Shadow didn't even start going out yet... right~? hint hint. :) **


	15. Dark Sonic's Protective Side

**I was really happy with all the reviews that I got despite the fact that it was shoter than my usual ones :D**

**Yes it is still amazing that there are people reading this, you guys are to nice ;D**

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"What the-"

Zhadow didn't have a chance to finish his sentence as Dark Sonic suddenly appeared in front of him and gave him a hard kick on his head. The scary thing was that Dark Sonic didn't use his chaos control. This was his pure speed.

"...?!" Zhadow touched the area where he received the blow, "And I thought you were fast before."

"Well then, allow me to show you what my speed really can do," growled Dark Sonic who was all of the sudden behind Zhadow. Not only Zhadow was all drained from his previous battle with both Sonic and Shadow, but he was not able to use chaos energy anymore. Red and purple chaos emeralds no longer functioned properly ever since their color turned dull.

"...! D-damn..!" Zhadow's eyes widened when he received a harsh blow from Dark Sonic, causing him to literally fly in midair. When the ex-zone cop tried to regain his position, the dark hedgehog leaped into the air as well. That's when it happened. Zhadow received bunch of punches and kicks and he couldn't even tell what angle they were coming from! Most of the attacks were aimed near Zhadow's stomach which caused him to gasp for air and gag a couple of times. The ex-zone cop then got a rough kick on the back of his neck and for the first time in this battle, he cried out in pure pain.

The only thing poor Zhadow could hear were his own ones cracking in joints and laughter

Laughter was what scared the ex-zone cop the most.

As he was receiving some terrible blows all over his defenseless body, his ears ran with Dark Sonic's laughter but this was nothing like the usual optimistic tone he heard previously. This laughter was just a hundred percent madness.

"STOP! YOU PSYCHOTIC HEDGEHOG!" Zhadow screamed in mixture of fear and anger.

"Hehhehheh, just one more!" the dark hedgehog interrupted as he used his elbow to land a heavy attack on Zhadow's back. The ex-zone cop's back quills did inflict some damage to Dark Sonic, causing him to bleed a little but this just added more excitement.

Zhadow fell from the air and on to the floor with a huge crushing sound. He tried to open his eyes properly and when he did, he regretted right away. He saw that crazy smirk his enemy had with no pupils before getting kicked on the side of his face again.

The ex-zone cop rolled to the opposite side with blood all over his body. The battle just started and he was already in a huge mess. He felt like couple of bones broke and his back muscle hurt every time when he moved. The breathing became difficult ever since he got thousands of punches on his stomach and Zhadow winced in pain when he made a tiny effort to move his legs.

"I...I might die if this continues...!" Zhadow murmured, for once fearing death. "I have to survive, I can't die like this!"

Dark Sonic also stopped his action and observed the trauma he caused to Zhadow. One thing for sure, Dark Sonic felt so alive. His breathing also increased and this was not from tiredness, it was from the thrill he received.

"This pleasure, it just feels so good!" the dark hedgehog yelled at his opponent. "Heh, I never thought beating the life out of someone would feel this great! I mean just look at you!" the psychotic hedgehog gave a sadistic laughter as he pointed to Zhadow, "You look so helpless and pathetic!"

"Y-you," Zhadow yelped in pain when he fully stood up from the floor, "You're mad. You finally snapped! You're not Sonic prime anymore."

But Dark Sonic's laughter quickly faded away as his serious face composure returned. He was a little ticked off that his pitiful enemy talked back to him.

"I didn't say you can talk," the dark hedgehog said coldly as he walked to Zhadow.

Zhadow could feel his heart racing when he saw his own death walking up to him. The ex-zone cop tried to reach to one of the chaos emeralds. Dark Sonic realized what his prey was trying to do so he changed his walking to sprinting.

"Arrgh..!" Zhadow cried when the dark hedgehog stepped onto his gloved hand.

"And I didn't say that you can get those chaos emeralds. Don't tell me you want to run away now," he said as his right foot kicked off two chaos emeralds to the other side. Zhadow's vision began to go a little blurry when Dark Sonic grabbed him by his throat with one hand.

"When I said I didn't plan on leaving you alone, I really meant I didn't plan on letting you go."

"Why you little...!" hissed Zhadow as he gathered all his strength in one of his metal hand. He then punched Dark Sonic's stomach as if his life depended on it. Well, it actually did in this scenario.

'This should at least do some damage,' the ex-zone cop thought to himself. But instead of hearing painful noises or any sort of movement, he only heard a soft sadistic chuckle.

"You really are finished, huh?" the dark hedgehog grinned as he tightened his grip.

"Zhadow, where are you right now?!"

'Mephiles?' Zhadow heard another creature's voice from his ear communicator and for once, he was glad to hear another voice other than Sonic.

"The far east side of No Zone. You have to come and get me, Sonic prime...h-he turned into a mad monster!" yelled Zhadow.

"Hey I don't like what your friend did do my Shadow," Dark Sonic took out the small microchip attached on to Zhadow's ear. Before Mephiles spoke another sentence, the dark hero smashed the device between his fingers.

"I...I can't...breathe..." Zhadow's voice sounded more like a whimper.

"Good, because you won't need to after I'm done with you.

_(Somewhere in Shadow's darkness...)_

Shadow didn't know where he was right now. Everything was dark around him and his fur color literally blended in with the background. Where was he? Should he start walking? But where would he go? The ultimate life form tried to remember what was the last thing that occurred to him. He was having a fight with Zhadow... then he was shot... later Sonic came to the supposed rescue.

"Right, so is this what happens after death?" Shadow asked himself. He wasn't scared but curious to see what would happen to him. The concept of death never bothered the black hedgehog from the beginning. Just then, Shadow heard a light voice calling out to him.

"Hey... Yo Shadow...!"

"...?" Shadow looked around but he failed to see anyone.

"Over here buddy!" A blue figure far away waved his hand back and forth to greet the ultimate life form.

"Sonic...?" Shadow frowned. 'No... Does that mean Zhadow killed Sonic?!' Shadow started to panic as he called out to the blue hero, "Sonic! That's you right?!"

"Come here, Shadow! I need to tell ya something important!" the blue figure smiled and tapped his red shoes impatiently.

Shadow tilted his head in confusion, a little unsure if that was Sonic or not. But the blue quills looked like Sonic and the voice really resembled him as well.

"Hurry up Shadow!" said the blue figure but his cheerful tone quickly vanished in his next sentence, "You have to save, Sonic! You're going to lose him for good if you don't do anything!"

When Shadow finally caught up to the blurry figure, he noticed that it was Sonic after all. The ultimate life form frowned a little when he didn't understand the situation that was displayed in front of him.

"What are you talking about? You are Sonic," Shadow grunted and reached out his hand only to discover that his hand went through the peach stomach. "What the…"

"Hehheh, well I'm not really Sonic," replied the blue figure. "More like, your conscious if you really want to have the full detail."

Shadow tiled his head in confusion. "How is it that my conscious looks like Sonic? I thought it would… I don't know look like myself?"

"Well, people's conscious is usually in the form of someone who they deeply care about and you guessed it buddy, it is Sonic the hedgehog in your case," the blue illusion said it proudly and Shadow had a small sweat drop at this answer.

"Don't waste my time. Why in the world would I care about that idiotic hedgehog," Shadow gave a slight unsure look.

"Beats me. You should know it yourself, Shadow." But the blue figure quickly shook his head, "But that's not the problem. You have to wake up right now! Can't you sense the cryptic chaos energy right now?"

"I thought I was dead? How the hell am I supposed to sense anything?" Shadow crossed his arms.

"No you're not dead! Well… you're not really dead yet! If you focus carefully, you should be able to pick up strange chaos energy. In fact, this chaos energy is too dark if you ask me," the blue image wrapped his arms around himself and shivered.

"Is something wrong with Sonic?" Shadow finally showed some interest.

The blue figure quickly nodded his head again. "He totally lost his sanity ever since he thought you died for good! Something is wrong with Sonic and if this continues, he's going to stay into some kind of… of.. a psychotic freak for the rest of his life! You have to stop him, Shadow! I mean if your conscious is Sonic then you must care about him a lot, right?"

"…. How can I help Sonic?" Shadow could feel his tone altering in a anxiety and concern.

"Try to wake up. Call… his name," the blue figure came closer to Shadow and placed his hands onto the ultimate life form's shoulders. "You want Sonic to be safe…. Right?"

"Sonic..." Shadow murmured with his eye lids still closed.

Nobody would have heard Shadow's call because it was so quiet but Dark Sonic's ears perked up instantly when he heard that particular voice.

"...Shadow" the dark hedgehog roughly threw injured Zhadow to the side and quickly ran next to the ultimate life form. He placed his hand on top of Shadow's body just below the white chest fur.

"You're breathing..." Dark Sonic whispered with his eyes narrowed. When he felt a small but a weak heartbeat, he finally gave off that cheerful smile as his green emerald slowly returned. "You're breathing!"

Dark Sonic quickly carried Shadow into his arms and decided to head back to No Zone facility. Since Shadow all of the sudden started to come back to life, maybe they can help him. The dark aura continues to glow but it was slightly weaker than before. His emerald color eyes were there but the blue quills were still nowhere to be seen.

"I'll deal with you later, Zhadow." The dark hedgehog growled. "I have more important matter to handle right now."

With those words, Dark Sonic quickly took off with his extreme speed, back into the city.

"Shit..." Zhadow bit his lips to distract himself from the pain. Just then, a dark portal opened with Mephiles and Scourge.

"What happened here?" Mephiles asked with an uninteresting tone.

"Dude! You look so beat up right now!" Scourge was surprised to see Zhadow in such a state. Zhadow was a little glad that both of the hedgehogs didn't made fun of him.

"Sonic prime happened."

"Wha?! No way! I know that Blue and he's not the type to beat the crap out of someone during battles like that!" said Scourge. He then realized two chaos emerald that were tossed to the other side of the floor. "So who left these two beauties?"

"Sonic prime," Zhadow replied before cursing in pain once more.

_(Meanwhile back in the No Zone facility)_

"So right after Tails got out of the hospital, I asked him if there was any way for me to get back with my Sonic. He tried to fix that weird portal looking device after Mephiles nearly destroyed it and when the fixing didn't go so well, I pulled out my hammer like this," Amy summoned her personal weapon, "Slammed it to the machine a little and ta-da! I made the portal work temporarily! So I jumped in before the machine shut down again and that's how I was able to meet up with Sonic again!" Amy chirped to the sleeping hedgehog on bed.

Sonic told Amy that the sleeping hedgehog known as Zonic the zone cop would be looking after her.

'More like I'm watching over him. You so owe me two more dates, Sonic!" Amy pouted and observed the zone cop again. The pink hedgehog had to admit, he really did look exactly like Sonic since he was not wearing his usual uniform in the bed. Just when Amy was about to lose her interest, she spotted a small movement from Zonic.

"Woah! Hey! You're waking up!" Amy backed away a little since she didn't really know too much about Zonic.

The head zone cop sat up straight in the bed as he yawned a little. Zonic's eyes were still half lidded because he slept for hours. It took few seconds for the zone cop to discover that he was not alone. When he turned his head, a pink hedgehog with a shocked look staring at him with intense looks.

"Are you my nurse?" Zonic blinked on confusion.

At this question, Amy blushed madly (also the fact that Zonic sounded perfectly like Sonic) and screamed, "Kyaa! What are you talking about you pervert! My heart only belongs to Sonic! Why would I be your nurse in the first place?!"

"Hey, I was just asking since I haven't seen you before," Zonic sighed, "Please, stop with the screaming already."

With screaming sounds and Zonic's voice, most of the cops in the same floor knew that something was wrong. Or at least, they thought something was wrong. One of the fox zone cop ran to Zonic's room, hoping that nothing bad happened.

"Boss!" the fox yelled, "What's going on here? B-boss you're awake!"

"Yeah, I just got up," Zonic rubbed his head and pointed his finger at Amy, "Who is this by the way?"

"Sorry sir, this is one of Sonic prime's friend. He told her to stay here before he jumped out through the broken wall. Well we fixed it now so it's not there anymore but-"

"The broken wall? When did that happen?" This finally caught Zonic's interest and he made an attempt to get out from the bed. The fox officer ran next to the head zone cop in order to give him some support.

"We're still not sure who did that but it could have been those inmates. Sonic prime went to track down the criminal," the fox answered as he placed his hand around Zonic's waist.

"What about Shadow?" asked Zonic in a worried voice.

"It looks like he went after the person as well. You could have been in serious danger again, Boss! Sorry, we should have let one of the zone cop officer to stay with you," the fox zone cop lower in tone.

"No, it's really fine," Zonic waved it off, "Can you just get me my uniform ready? If it really were those three criminals that tried to kidnap me by breaking into my room then we better prepare for the worse."

"I will help too!" Amy raised her hand, "Sonic told me that you are his friend so you are also my friend, right?"

"Uh…" Zonic tiled his head and didn't really know how to respond. The fox on the other hand thought that the pink hedgehog was being very rude. She was talking to Zonic the zone cop as if she was just talking to anyone! The only person who can just talk to him casually is probably Sonic prime and maybe Shadow.

"Hey, you need to show him some respect little girl," the fox rolled his eyes as he gave the uniform to Zonic, "He is one of the elite zone cop with a very high status and reputation. You can't just call him your friend."

"If I want him to be my friend then he's going to me my friend, mister!" Amy fought back.

"Listen you little girl! If I want to hear one word out of your mouth then I'll- "the fox was interrupted when a green rabbit busted into Zonic's room as well. Zonic grew tired of hearing his door slamming over and over again.

"What is it Zester?" asked Zonic, "If this has to do with my health condition then I don't want to hear it right now. "

"No Boss! This is an emergency! One of the outside guards just informed me that a black hedgehog is approaching and his energy level is something we have never experienced before!"

"What?" Zonic quickly finished with his uniform, "Are you sure it's not Shadow?"

"No I think it's someone different. The energy is pure dark… what if it's that guy from the previous battle?"

"You mean Mephiles? You could be right," Zonic gritted his teeth. "Tell all the backups to stand in front of the main entrance right now! I'll be heading there to as well."

"Yes Boss!" said the fox and the green rabbit at the same time as they rushed out to the room.

"Listen, this could be dangerous for you so you better-"

"I am not going anywhere until my Sonic arrives!" Amy interrupted Zonic. Zonic had to admit, he thought the pink hedgehog was a little annoying but at the same time he appreciated the enthusiasm that she had.

"Well then, I guess we all should get down there," said Zonic when he finished getting ready. As soon as Zonic and Amy went downstairs, they noticed that the whole zone cop forces were ready with their weapons near the entrance door.

"Look at this energy detection level, sir," the intern zone cop showed the device to Zonic.

The green bar on the machine was at its highest degree. The beeping became louder by the second and this worried the head zone cop a little. Zonic let out a huge sigh as he placed his helmet on.

"Everybody, get your weapon out and wait for my signal," Zonic called out. Just then, there was a huge banging noise on the metal door. The floor shook violently and the harsh hitting noise on the entrance door became louder and louder. Zonic swallowed hard when he felt his heart shaking in fear.

"That is the hardest metal that we can find in No Zone. There is no way that thing is going to break it!" The fox zone cop shouted.

With another banging, the metal door started to form long cracks along the edges.

"WHAT THE?!" Zonic heard a scream and gritted his teeth in frustration of the situation.

"Do you think it is Mephiles, Boss?" another cop asked as he positioned his gun in the front door.

"What if it's Mephiles, Scourge and Zhadow again?" someone shouted in fear.

"Everyone calm down and get ready!" Zonic said in a firm tone. "Don't do anything unless I order you to do so."

"That door is going to open soon!" Any screamed and pointed at the vibrating entrance door. She was a little scared at who or what could be behind the door. The pink hedgehog stood behind Zonic for a safe protection but she still had her hammer out.

With a last banging noise, the silver metal entrance flew open to the side

"Everyone! Aim…!" Zonic shouted and thousands of red laser marks pointed at the dark figure slowly walking into the building.

Zonic was about to yell _fire!_ But something stopped him when he noticed that the dark figure was holding someone that looked very familiar; there was a lifeless being. The black hedgehog did not wore any uniform so it couldn't have been Zhadow. 'Wait… is that Shadow?! But who is that…?'

Zonic placed his hand into the air as a stop signal and all of the zone cop members gave a confused look to their leader. The dark figure had all of his quills up just like Shadow so Zonic first thought it could be Mephiles or Zhadow but he failed to see the white patch of fur in the upper chest area. The unknown hedgehog had a dark blue fur and purple colored aura wrapping around him. What caught Zonic's attention was the fact that this bizarre hedgehog had the emerald green eyes.

"Wait, isn't that?!" Amy quickly realized who the mysterious creature was.

"Everyone, hold your fire!" yelled Zonic as he decided to step forward on his own.

"Hey there Zonic, sorry I had to break down the door like that. When I told guards outside that I was your friend, they started to attack me and I just couldn't control my temper ya know."

"…Sonic prime? Is that you?" asked Zonic who also recognized the emerald eyes right away.

"The one and only," replied Dark Sonic with a grin that looked a lot sinister than before. "Boy, I had to kick that bad boy several times before I got it to open." Dark Sonic turned around to see the pieces of metal door on various parts of the floor.

"What…. What happened to you? What happened to Shadow?!" Zonic came closer and observed Shadow who gave a very soft groan. Zonic felt his heart skip a beat when he realized how awful Shadow looked in Dark Sonic's arms.

"I need you to help Shadow. I don't want to lose him. No, I won't lose him!" stated Dark Sonic, "Zhadow used this anti-chaos gun or whatever the hell it's called and it's hurting him, Zonic! I thought he was dead but Shadow seems to be coming back to life again."

"You have a lot of explaining to do Sonic prime!" Zonic also panicked when he heard that Zhadow shot Shadow with the anti-chaos gun. "I'll call the medical staff to take him to the emergency room."

"No! Just tell them to prepare for Shadow. I've seen the emergency room before. It's in the eleventh floor right?" Zonic nodded while his eyes were still glued onto Shadow. "Then, I'm going to take him there," said Dark Sonic.

"But the elevators don't work because Zhadow broke it using his chaos attack!" someone shouted from the back.

"Who said I'm taking the elevator?" Dark Sonic smirked as he tightly gripped onto the unconscious hedgehog and ran in the speed of sound. As soon as Dark Sonic was gone, everyone in the first floor felt the rush of the wind and wondered if that dark hedgehog really was Sonic prime.

"Prepare the emergency room. We have Shadow entering with bad injuries and importantly he was shot with a chaos gun. I repeat he was shot with a chaos gun," commanded Zonic onto his transmitter device. "Now, can you confirm me if that really was Sonic prime?" Zonic asked to Amy.

Meanwhile, Dark Sonic rushed up the stairs as he glanced back at Shadow once in a while to check if he was doing okay. He could feel the faint heartbeat but that was not enough to satisfy Dark Sonic. He wanted Shadow to open his eyes. He wanted Shadow to tell him that he was doing okay.

"You better not die on me Shadow or you're going to regret it," warned Dark Sonic when he reached the eleventh floor and was greeted by seven different medical professionals.

"Hurry, place the patient on to this bed and leave so we can start the operation!" one of the doctor pointed to Shadow. Dark Sonic quickly obeyed and tried to keep himself calm.

"Is… Is Shadow going to be okay?" asked Dark Sonic who hated the serious atmosphere. This actually made him a lot worry then before.

"We do not want to promise anything," said the nurse who pushed Dark Sonic out of the emergency room. "Please wait here until the operation is complete."

Sonic could feel his dark energy leaving his entire body as his worry for Shadow's health grew stronger. When if Shadow doesn't make it? But he is an ultimate life form so he should be okay, right? Sonic's quills slowly faced downward as the dark colors left his fur in thin air.

"Can you guys promise me that-"But Sonic's request was interrupted when two nurses closed the emergency room's door.

At this moment, Sonic was back to his old original self. The hostile personality drifted away from his mind and all that confident feeling about Shadow not dying disappeared as well.

"…Promise me that Shadow's going to be okay," Sonic murmured and let out a deep sigh.


	16. I Think I Love You, Shadow

**If you left a review last chapter I hope you guys enjoyed my reply!**

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Sonic tried to have a little peak on what's going on inside the emergency room. When he managed to find one of the windows, he wanted to see how the operation might be going. Since this was a sound proof wall, the blue hedgehog was not able to hear but he could still see everything. There were two doctors ordering their nurses to bring some supplies.

Shadow was still on the bed without any motion and this worried Sonic a little. The nurse brought a long tube looing object and walked next to the unconscious hedgehog. The pink squirrel carefully parted Shadow's lips just enough for the tube to enter his body.

'Are they going to put that long tube in all the way?!' Sonic thought to himself, 'That's crazy!'

But that crazy incident did happen in reality. The clear tube continued to enter Shadow's body until Shadow involuntarily jerked his muscle. The nurse probably hit his gag reflect with the long tube.

'That looks painful,' Sonic winced as he bit his own lips.

When the oxygen tube was inside Shadow, the doctor gave a hand signal. When he received a surgical knife, Sonic freaked to the next level. Even though our blue hero is used to with seeing violent stuff through his experience during battles, medical related issues always caused some uneasiness. To Sonic, there was a huge difference in seeing blood when he was fighting his enemies and seeing blood on a surgical patient.

The doctor raised his hand and gently gave a long clean cut to Shadow's upper chest area. Sonic could feel his bile flowing up from this stomach and his face literally turned green.

'I don't think I should keep looking at this anymore…' Sonic's mind trailed off as he turned his head away from the window. 'Shadow. He'll be fine! I'm sure of it…. R-right?' Sonic let out a deep sigh and decided to go for a run to take his mind off. He felt horrible for Shadow but at the same time, he was ashamed of himself for allowing his dark side to take over again. The last time when that happened, was able to calm Sonic down to his original self.

"But, I had a pretty good excuse," Sonic murmured. "He almost killed Shadow. How am I not supposed to get mad by that."

"Hey there, Sonic prime."

Sonic felt his muscle tense when he heard a familiar voice from the behind. The blue hero turned around to see his counter self with red colored tight uniform with green gloves. The head zone cop took off his helmet to let Sonic know that he was not a stranger.

"What's up, Zonic?" Sonic tried to keep everything casual.

"Sonic prime, I talked to Amy and she seemed to not really know how to explain to me about what happened back there," Zonic placed his helmet down and walked towards Sonic.

"I… uh… I don't really follow," Sonic replied.

"When you carried Shadow back to this facility, you did realize that…" Zonic thought about Sonic's darker form before he continued, "I mean, you were very different."

"…" Sonic felt mortified again as he folded his ears back. "It's nothing really."

"That's doesn't look like a simple nothing, Sonic prime," Zonic placed his hand onto the blue hero's shoulder, "What happened? You were not like yourself and it did worry me."

Sonic carefully looked up to meet Zonic's face expression filled with pure concern to the point where the blue hero felt bad that he was leaving his friend hanging without any explanation. Sonic didn't like when people asked him about his darker form because even he didn't know too much about it. 'I guess I should just give a little brief story.'

"I'll tell you the gist of it," Sonic tried to maintain his optimistic tone but this did not fool Zonic.

"Let's go outside and talk. I understand that you want to be near Shadow but he will be taken good care of under our medical staff.

Sonic let out a deep sigh when he heard Shadow's name but Zonic was right. Sonic really needed to take his mind off. 'It's not like my worry is going to help him anyways.'

After Sonic nodded as an agreement, Zonic also picked up his helmet and they both walked back down to the first floor. There were few constructions going on in order to fix this place while some zone cops focused on upgrading their weapons. For some reason, Amy was now where to be found and both Sonic and Zonic sighed in relief at the same time.

"Hahaha, don't tell me you don't enjoy Amy's company?" Sonic laughed and he had to admit, it felt good to have some humor back in his life.

"Well… let's just say we didn't have a proper greeting if you understand what I mean," Zonic scratched his head a little.

"It's fine. I know how Amy can be sometimes," said Sonic, "Sorry if she said or did anything offensive to you."

"No worries," answered Zonic. Both blue hedgehogs finally reached the exit of the zone cop facility building. But instead of using the normal exit door, Zonic pressed a bottom and another door opened. The place looked more like a small garden with strange looking flowers and trees growing in various directions. There were bubbles floating in midair and some of these clear looking bubbles had shiny crystals inside them.

"Wow, I have to say, this is one amazing garden," Sonic whistled and looked around more. "Can we enter?"

"Of course, you have my permission," smiled Zonic.

"Your permission?" Sonic tilted his head in confusion as they both went deeper into the garden.  
"Well, I am the one who created this garden after all. I guess you can…. Hmm… call this as one of my hobby aside from doing tasks," Zonic shrugged.

"Woah! I can't believe someone like you would be into these kind of stuff!" exclaimed Sonic as he jogged his way to one of the chair that he found in the middle of the place.

Zonic narrowed his eyes, " And what do you mean by that if I may ask?"

"Nothing! Relax man!" Sonic raised both of his hands in the air, "I just think it's cool that you have an actual hobby that is less stressful."

"Well, enough about me and my hobby," Zonic blushed a little, "Let's get back onto the topic that I asked you about earlier."

Sonic tapped the spot next to him, signaling the head zone cop to sit down as well. When Zonic sat beside the blue hero, they both got comfortable before Sonic spoke again.

"Well, believe it or not although I may look pretty charming and heroic and all," Zonic slightly chuckled at this and Sonic playfully punched Zonic's arm. "As I was saying, I also have… uh… a little darker side of my own."

Zonic furrowed his eyes at this sentence but he allowed Sonic to continue.

"Seriously I don't even know how it happens because it's not like I have control over this thing but… I noticed one pattern so far," Sonic swallowed hard. "I seemed to inherit this dark power whenever I lose my temper."

"I can't really imagine the great Sonic prime having anger issues," said Zonic as he studied Sonic's expression. The head zone cop could tell that his counterpart didn't enjoy talking about this as well.

"Yeah, I mean this is the second time when I face this dark chaos energy flowing inside me," Sonic wrapped around himself as he thought about the previous moment when he nearly killed Zhadow with his own two hands.

"Hmm and when you are in this darker form… do you lose self-control? Perhaps you don't really remember anything that happens during this phase?" asked Zonic.

Sonic flashed a weak smile as he shook his head side to side. "No, when in my darker self, I completely remember all the things that I do. It's just that, I don't act like myself that's all. Usually I don't enjoy beating up someone but…. Well…." Sonic remembered his own sadistic laughter when he saw injured Zhadow. "I just become some kind of insane hedgehog, hehheh."

Zonic thought about telling Sonic how his previous behavior with knocking the metal door out senselessly scared a lot of the zone cop members and this did disappoint the head zone cop to the highest degree. But then again, Sonic also admitted that he was not acting like himself. It looked like the blue hero caught Zonic's callous expression from the corner of his eyes.

"Are you mad at my actions back there?" Sonic tried to lighten his tone when he asked to Zonic.

Zonic's ears perked up and turned his head.

"I'm just saying, you have every right to be mad at me. I mean, I was acting like a psychotic idiot back there," Sonic shrugged his shoulders.

"You had a reason Sonic prime. You don't have to be too harsh on yourself," said Zonic in a quiet tone as he stood up.

" Huh? Come again?" The blue hedgehog clearly heard that Zonic said but he didn't know how to respond to that.

"When you lose your temper, you turn dark. It's obvious that Zhadow hurt Shadow and this caused you to lose your self-control," Zonic touched his green gloved fingers as he swallowed hard, "Admit it Sonic prime, you care about Shadow more than you think."

Sonic could feel his ears turning red as he spoke, "O-of course! Why wouldn't I not care about my friend?"

"You know what I mean," Zonic sighed. Even the head zone cop could see that Sonic blushed every time when Shadow was mentioned in their topic.

"Yeah, I care about Shadow as a close friend," Sonic emphasized and rubbed his heated ears.

"So you wouldn't mind if I asked Shadow to go out with me?" Zonic smirked as he narrowed his eyes. Sonic instantly fidgeted in his seat when he heard what Zonic said. Sonic bit his lips a little and raced his mind to think of a good comeback to counter Zonic's sentence.

"I.. uh… w-why… why would you want to do that?" Sonic blinked a couple of times when he heard his own voice shaking. 'Shoot, that is not a good way to talk back,' Sonic mentally slapped himself.

Zonic laughed and gently nudged Sonic's back, "Sonic prime, if you have interest in Shadow, you should tell him. I was a little surprised that you guys were not in a relationship since Zhadow and I were… well you know,"

"I do not have interest in him!" said Sonic and hated himself for sounding like a girl, "If you want to go out with Shadow so badly then go ahead, be my guest Zonic." Sonic gave off a rather uneasy smile. Zonic for once thought Sonic's reaction was pretty cute and shook his head gently.

'Believe it or not Sonic prime, I think I have interest in Shadow but he seem to care more about you anyways,' thought Zonic as his smirk faded away.

'Did I offend Zonic?' Sonic studied the zone cop's face expression when he altered it to sadness, 'Maybe I shouldn't have said that considering how bad things are between Zonic and Zhadow.'

"Hey Zonic I-" Sonic called out but was interrupted by a small beeping noise from Zonic's pocket. It was a cell phone device that Zonic quickly answered.

"Yes? Great… the installment for the security computer is not working? Okay, I'll be right there, just give me a second," answered Zonic. He put away the communicator machine back to his yellow pocket on the belt. "Let me go and check this out for a moment, Sonic prime. You sure you'll be okay by yourself?"

"Go take your time Zonic. I'm not a child who needs a constant attention," said Sonic. The blue hero stretched his arms and Zonic chuckled at his response. The head zone cop gave off a simple nod as he exited his own garden which left Sonic alone.

'Zonic and his jokes,' Sonic rolled his eyes. 'Just because he and Zhadow were once in a relationship that doesn't make me and Shadow…eh,' Sonic blushed madly and violently shook his head. 'I seriously need to get my mind off the gutter.'

Sonic thought about running around the garden but he didn't want to see an angry Zonic since Sonic knew how scary the head zone cop could be when he's pissed off. The blue hero chuckled at the image of a fuming zone cop as he decided to go outside of the building. There was an exit door on the other side of the garden and Sonic dashed to the door.

"It's raining," Sonic murmured to himself. The blue hedgehog looked up at the dark blue sky and the rain drops echoed into his ears. "Good, I feel like some chilly run anyways!" Sonic smiled and ran straight on with full speed. In few seconds, his quills were already soaked with cool rain water but he didn't care. The cold sensation sent shivers and Sonic's felt like the rain water washing away his darkness.

Meanwhile when Zonic finished helping with the installment of the program, he decided to walk to the emergency room to see how Shadow's operation went. As soon as Zonic reached into the eleventh floor, he bumped into someone and landed harshly on the floor.

"Ouch," Zonic hissed under his breath, "Are you guys in a hurry or… S-Shadow?!" Zonic looked up and he clearly saw a black hedgehog standing tall in front of him.

"I didn't see you there, Zonic," said Shadow as he placed his hand to Zonic to help him up.

Zonic's face lit up a little and slowly took the black hedgehog's hand.

"Thanks you," said Zonic.

"Are you okay?" asked Shadow as he pulled Zonic up.

"I should be asking that to you, Shadow. I didn't know the operation would end this…"

"Fast?" Shadow gave a soft smile when he realized how much Zonic was worried for him. "It turned out that my body started to generate antibiotic as soon as the gun entered my body. I guess when I fainted, that's when the antigen from my body actually started to fight of the bullet's effect.

"W-wow. I'm assuming that the surgery was small then." Zonic tried to keep his cool but deep inside, the head zone cop was extremely happy to hear that Shadow was going to be okay. "I'm glad everything went well."

"You were in a pretty bad condition when I first arrived here. You sure your condition is alright too?" asked Shadow and Zonic could feel his heart skip a beat.

'I can't make myself fall for Shadow,' Zonic reminded himself. "Don't worry too much about me," the head zone cop replied.

Just then, the ultimate life form came closer to Zonic and analyzed him carefully. Shadow could see few bruises and cuts created from the previous battle and there were also some surgical marks around Zonic's arms and legs as well. Since the zone cop wore the uniform, it was hard to see all the damages. Shadow then touched Zonic's arms few more times.

"…. I'm fine Shadow," Zonic backed away from Shadow's touch. Few more then Zonic might lose to his own temptation.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure Mephiles would be sorry that he did this to you," replied Shadow. "By the way, where's Sonic?"

Zonic was a little sad when the ultimate life form mentioned Sonic's name. "I was talking to Sonic prime in the garden but I bet he is outside running around judging by his personality."

"Why don't we go look for him?" Shadow suggested but Zonic thought it would be best to leave the two hedgehog alone.

"I have something to take care of in the facility," Zonic stepped backward even more, "Why don't you go and find Sonic prime? He will be delighted to hear that you are doing okay."

Shadow was a little confused but he probably thought after the invasion from the three villains, Zonic would be very busy for a while. The black hedgehog just gave a nod to the head zone cop as he ran to the exit of the facility.

When Shadow stepped outside, it was literally pouring like mad. The cool water splashed onto Shadow's eyes and he blinked a couple of times to get the water out of his eyes. Shadow shook a little at the sudden change of temperature. 'Would Sonic really be outside running in this rain?' Shadow thought to himself. Shadow gave off a deep sigh as was about to run into the rain to look for Sonic but in a perfect timing, he saw a blue blur from far away coming towards him. Shadow was about to call out to check if it was Sonic. He stopped himself when the blue figure jumped and started to dash towards him.

"Shadow!" Sonic yelled in mixture of joy and surprise as he reached his destination, "Dude! What are you doing here?! How did the operation go? I didn't know you would be out from the emergency so soon!"

"I can't believe I'm saying this but it's nice to see you too," commented Shadow as Sonic jumped up and down in happiness.

"You have no idea how excited I am! And here I thought I was going to lose a rival you know?" Sonic chirped and stopped hopping, "I wouldn't have anyone to race anymore!"

Shadow rolled his eyes with a faint smile on his lips, "Don't tell me that's the only reason you are happy to see me."

"Hehheh. Well you know you always will be one of my best rivals when it comes to a friendly competition!" Sonic laughed as he calmed down a little. "But how did the operation end so fast? I thought you were a goner!"

Shadow thought it would be useless to explain the whole process of his body being capable of making the perfect antibiotic weapon to fight off any type of chemicals so he decided to keep things simple for the blue hedgehog. "Don't underestimate me. I am the ultimate life form after all."

"Yeah yeah you and your ultimate life, I got it. You really don't die easy," Sonic waved it off. He also didn't really care too much about how Shadow made it through the near death experience. The only thing that mattered to the blue hero was the fact that Shadow was here and he was alive.

"Speak for yourself," said Shadow as he smirked.

"Hey Shadow so... you are feeling perfect right now,right?" Sonic came a little closer and touched every single part of Shadow's body to check if he was really okay.

Shadow couldn't help but to chuckle at Sonic's sudden over protective behavior, "Didn't you just say that I don't die easy? It takes a lot for me do go down than a simple anti-chaos gun. "

After the blue hedgehog checked to make sure Shadow was perfectly fine, Sonic gave a friendly smile as his right hand formed into a tight fist. Without a warning, Sonic stepped back a little and punched Shadow on the side of his left cheek. Sonic knew what he was doing so he didn't dare to punch Shadow to the fullest. But he did it just enough so that there would be pain but not too hard so Shadow would lose his balance.

Shadow's head automatically turned to the right side when he received Sonic's light punch. The dark hedgehog's eyes dilated as he tried to process everything that just happened to him. 'Did Sonic just punched me?'

"You bastard!" Sonic yelled and he was a little surprised at the word choice he used, "Don't you ever scare me like that again! Shadow, I thought you were really going to die! Do you know how much you scared me to death?!" Sonic could feel his fist shaking.

Shadow was also a little ticked off at Sonic's sudden change in personality. This hedgehog was totally acting like he was bipolar or something!

"Right, as if this is my fault that-" Shadow was about to increase voice but something stopped him from doing so. He noticed that something was horribly wrong with Sonic.

The cocky blue hedgehog had tears falling out from his eyes and it even hurt Shadow more when he realized Sonic's failing attempt to stop crying.

Tears from Sonic's eyes?

Shadow thought he was in another world because Sonic never cries, especially not in front of his famous rival.

At first Shadow was just speechless. Taking punch from the blue hero was one thing but watching him cry? Shadow thought he would never see the day. The tears continued to drip along Sonic's cheek and it looked like the blue hedgehog was surprised at his own action. Sonic bit his lipshis lips hard and tried his best to avoid the ultimate life form's gaze

"...And here I thought I would never see a single tear from you," said Shadow although it sounded a lot colder than he intended to.

"..." Sonic just continue to keep his head low without saying anything. Shadow could only hear some sniffing noises tickling his ears.

"Look," Shadow paused for a moment. He was extremely bad at comforting someone since he never did it before. There was a time when Rouge cried and wanted Shadow's comfort because Knuckles got so pissed off with her but Shadow just stood there to listen. He didn't give her a pat on her back. He certainly did not give her a good old hug to make herself feel better.

"Heh, S-sorry if ya had to see that," Sonic gave off a soft hiccup as he turned around to face away from Shadow. 'I'm so stupid, crying like some kid,' Sonic rolled his eyes as he tried to wipe away his tears.

"I'm not blaming you anything," said Shadow. Although Sonic's back was turned, the ultimate life form could still easily see the blue blur's shaking shoulders and large back quills.

"I guess I'm still not feeling too stable after I went all crazy on-" Sonic then covered his own mouth, "Anyways, yeah..."

Shadow caught something from Sonic's sentence as he traced his memory back when he had his battle with Zhadow. When Shadow was just somewhat unconscious, he remembered hearing a faint voice that belonged to Sonic. But it was not that cheerful tone. The voice sounded a lot darker and more sinister that brought chills to Shadow's spine. Shadow was also a little bit awake when Dark Sonic carried him to the emergency room. When he had just enough energy to open his eyes a little, he saw Sonic with dark blue quills and purple aura.

Now the ultimate life form was full of curiosity.

"I recall seeing a dark hedgehog with green eyes. Was that really you?" Shadow finally asked.

Sonic's ears twitched when he heard Shadow's question and he really did not want to answer that question at this moment. 'Chaos, it's bad enough Shadow just saw me with a major break down. Now he wants to know my shameful side too?'

"That was you, wasn't it?" Shadow asked again with firm tone.

"If the great ultimate life form can lose his temper then it's only fair that I can do it once in a while too," answered Sonic with a hoarse voice from crying. 'You have no idea how much you scared me, Shadow,' thought Sonic.

"Lose temper? From what I sense that was more than just losing temper. It's like you unleashed a whole new dark energy inside you."

Shadow actually remembered what Dr. Eggman told him when he used to work for him. The scientist once mentioned to Shadow that he saw Sonic transforming into something much more powerful with dark energy that it surprised him. Even though this was only for a brief moment, Dr. Eggman got a taste of Dark Sonic's power when the dark hedgehog pulverized the Metarex machines in less than ten seconds. When Shadow asked what caused Sonic to lose his personality, the Doctor said it was because he saw two of his close friends suffering in critical condition. That's when Sonic snapped and allowed his dark side to consume him. He needed power to seek revenge.

"The Doctor told me that you go through transformation with high level of dark energies when you feel desperate," Shadow pointed out.

"I wouldn't be Sonic if I don't worry for my friend," replied Sonic.

"Your friends were in countless of troubles and I've never seen you lose your character like that at all," Shadow sighed before he asked the next question, "Were you really worried that I wouldn't make it out alive back there?"

Sonic placed his hand in front of his eyes and groaned in misery. He started to feel annoyed and extremely embarrassed that Shadow constantly asked him questions.

"I thought I made it clear when I punched you," Sonic gritted his teeth, "You really freaked me out, Shadow! I thought you were going to die when you stopped breathing! It does feel pretty weird when you see an ultimate life form looking all weak and for your future record, I do not use my speed to run away! I use them to protect-"

"The ones you love. I don't need to hear it the second time," Shadow finished for his blue friend.

Sonic held his breath for a few seconds when he heard what Shadow just said. 'No way, Shadow heard what I said back there? I thought he already fainted when it slipped out from my mouth,' thought Sonic as he exhaled deeply once more.

"Good for you, pal. You managed to hear what I say before knocking out cold," Sonic muttered under his breath. His voice was still shaking and with Shadow's sensitive hearing, he could tell right away that the blue hedgehog kept weeping a little with his back turned. The black hedgehog had to admit, he was touched that Sonic would care about him in such high degree. I mean, if you see a cocky blue hedgehog crying then you know it's something serious. Not to mention Sonic turning all dark because of Shadow's supposed death added more to the proof that Sonic extremely cherished Shadow.

'If he threw away his dignity to cry in front of me, it's only fair if do the same,' thought Shadow as he stepped a little forward.

With a slight hesitation since he never done this to anyone in his life before, Shadow carefully wrapped his arms around Sonic's waist and pulled him closer to him.

"...?! Sha-"

"Listen well since I don't say it often. I apologize for my burden, Sonic." Shadow interrupted as he tightened his embrace.

With this short sentence escaping from Shadow's lips, Sonic started to tear up all over again.

'I'm not usually an emotional person, but when it's Shadow...' Sonic's mind trailed off as he allowed himself to relax under Shadow's arms. The blue hedgehog no longer heard the sound from rain drops. Only the warmth from the black hedgehog filled his mind and our hero laughed softly at the irony of the situation. Two past rivals throwing away their pride to comfort one another.

"Feeling nice to play the good guy?" Sonic managed to clear his voice.

"Hmph, don't get too use to with it," Shadow smirked but he quickly released Sonic when he heard another foot step coming from behind.

"Hey Sonic!" cried Amy when she found her lover, "So there you are! I've been looking all over for you!"

"Yo Amy," Sonic turned around and Shadow checked Sonic's eyes to see if he had some tears. Thankfully, since it was raining outside the pink hedgehog thought those were just rain water.

"Come on! Let's go inside! You scared me back there, Sonic. You have a lot of explaining to do! Why were you glowing black like that? You really had everyone in this place scared and I just couldn't possibly imagine my life without you Sonic! Oh Shadow, I see you're looking better as well," said Amy with small interest.

The black hedgehog just nodded to Amy and he decided to head to the zone cop facility to cover from the rain. When Amy saw Shadow entering, she also dragged the blue hedgehog along.

"Come on, Sonic! You need to get all warmed up!" said Amy. Both pink and blue hedgehogs walked towards the entrance that Shadow went to and while all this was happening, Sonic noticed that after what happened today, he couldn't deny it any longer.

'I really am in love,' Sonic carefully told himself, 'With my rival.'

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**Ah~~~~ next chapter is going to have some kiss after like... 16 chapters! (Sorry about that readers hehheh) **

**Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Oh and people asked me about Dark Sonic. Yes he will come out in the future again.**

**Again, thank you everyone for support!**


	17. Kiss between Black and Blue

**Thank you for those awesome reviews! Did you like my replies to you guys? haha XD**

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When Shadow first entered the facility, one thing was very fixated in his mind. Well it was more like a certain hedgehog if he had to go down to the fine detail. So many events happened between him and Sonic ever since Shadow tried to stop Mephiles from whatever he was up to.

'That hedgehog might not be as annoying as I assumed,' thought Shadow. Just then one of the zone cops came in front of the black hedgehog and handed him a towel when he noticed the wet floor in the building.

"Here you go. I think you might needs this," said the intern zone cop which Shadow took it thankfully. He didn't want to make too much of a mess with the rain water dripping from his quills and fur.

The intern didn't really expect Shadow to say thank you or anything special in return. After the black hedgehog took the white towel, the intern left to do his duty. Shadow first cleaned his rocket shoes and continued to dry himself from the top to bottom. When he started to clean off his arms, Shadow thought about what Sonic said to him before he lost his conscious back in the battle field.

_"If I'm protecting someone I love then I'm not wasting my time at all, buddy."_

Shadow didn't know why but that sentence kept haunting him over and over again. Sonic probably meant he loved Shadow like a friendly rival but the look in his eyes were too sincere. The ultimate life form wasn't sure if this really happened or not but he faintly recalls hearing Sonic's crying voice calling out to him. 'Maybe this is all just in my head. Where the hell am I even going with this anyways?' Shadow gently shook his head and threw the towel in the nearby trash can.

At first, when the black hedgehog saw Sonic crying because of almost death experience, Shadow thought it was pathetic. But when Shadow thought about it more, he realized that's exactly how he felt when Sonic almost had his near death experience in the blizzard. Shadow never wanted to see that horrible image of Sonic frozen like a corpse as long as he lived. Well more like as long as Sonic is alive sine the ultimate life form is immortal.

Shadow then closed his eyes and something hit him. He also cared about the arrogant blue hedgehog weather he liked it or not. It was so cleared to him. It's been a while since he spent his time thinking about someone aside from Maria. When Shadow turned around, he saw Amy and Sonic returning back to the building like two perfect couples. Even though Sonic looked a lot more tired compared to Amy, he didn't really seem to mind the pink hedgehog clinging on to him.

"I should leave those two alone," Shadow murmured to himself and pretended that he didn't see two hedgehogs coming in. At this point, the ultimate life form thought Sonic probably saw him but Shadow didn't hear his name being called out. The black hedgehog slightly hoped that Sonic would shout his name to see what he was doing or where he might be going but his ears didn't picked up anything. The only thing Shadow could hear were chattering of Amy Rose and an occasional laughter from Sonic.

With a small sinking feeling in his heart, Shadow continued to move forward until he ran into Zonic for the second time.

"Its good thing we didn't bump into each other like last time." This time Shadow decided to open up the conversation. The head zone cop took this as a surprise but he smiled anyways.

"It means we both learned our lesson," Zonic shrugged, "I see that you found Sonic prime and his friend."

"They probably need time alone to do some catching up. Sonic didn't give too many details to his friends about following me around," said Shadow as he glanced at Sonic who laughed again at one of Amy's comment. The black hedgehog gritted his teeth a little and Zonic sensed some anger rising from Shadow.

"I don't think they need time alone, Shadow. More like you and Sonic prime need some quality time together," said Zonic as he adjusted the yellow belt on his red uniform.

Shadow blinked a couple of times because he didn't expect Zonic to say anything like that. It was pretty clear to the head zone cop that he himself had some interest in Shadow ever since he and Zhadow were no longer together. At the same time, the zone cop also started to receive some obvious hints that Sonic and Shadow really need to come out of their caves and confess to each other. This is what kept Zonic from telling his interest to Shadow. He didn't want to ruin Shadow and Sonic's possible relationship just because he had some bad experience with Zhadow.

"..." When Shadow didn't say anything back, Zonic chuckled with a weak smile and placed his green gloved hand on to Shadow's back.

"Even though you look perfectly fine, I bet your body is still a little tired. Why don't you just relax before you and Sonic prime decide to go and find the next chaos emerald?" asked Zonic.

"I don't think he would be following me around any longer," said Shadow as he turned his attention away from Amy and Sonic. "I'm sure he misses his friends back home and it would be wise for him to return if he knows what's best."

"Haha, you know, you really do have similar characteristic with Zhadow," Zonic said as he started to walk. Shadow decided to follow the head zone cop as well.

"Speaking of Zhadow," Shadow always wanted to ask this question to Zonic but he was a little afraid that the head zone cop might take this the wrong way, "You told me back there that you guys were... in a relationship. What happened between you two? Did he suddenly have a change in his attitude?"

As soon as Zonic heard Shadow's question, his ears went down and the image of Zhadow's voice calling him someone who betrays stabbed his chest. Shadow also noticed the change in Zonic's behavior.

"If this is personal then you don't have to answer it," Shadow quickly added.

"I can tell you, Shadow. It's just... even I'm not aware of Zhadow's sudden change. I don't remember seeing him having problems in No Zone facility and he seemed to have enjoyed his life as a zone cop. If he had some complaining, he would have said something to me.

"So, what you're saying is that it just happened?"

Zonic nodded and they headed to Zonic's office. "The day before Zhadow was supposed to be sent on Space Colony Ark to be completely engineered into an ultimate life form, we were sent a mission. It was after that day when Zhadow started to change his personality."

"What do you mean when he was supposed to be sent to Space Colony Ark?" asked Shadow as Zonic opened the door to his office.

"Since Zhadow was an incomplete life form, he requested one of the scientist to finish the project that they started. Zhadow once told me that the reason why they stopped the ultimate life form project was because of the government's fear of Zhadow becoming an invincible weapon."

"One thing that I agree with Zhadow," Shadow growled as he thought about his own life back home. "Humans fear me even though they know that I won't cause any harm to them simply because I have too much power."

"Well, you are always welcomed at No Zone if things get too difficult in your home land," said Zonic as he took off his top layer of uniform. Shadow noticed that underneath the uniform, there was another black tight suit which covered his skin. Zonic sat down on his bed while there was a long silence between them but it was not one of those awkward silences. Both hedgehogs were surprised that they felt comfortable at each other's presence.

"Just out of curiosity, how did the relationship worked out between you and Zhadow?" Shadow asked bluntly and Zonic blushed a little at the thought of the old times when he and the ex-zone cop were a secret couple.

"We had some differences. Well, a lot of differences and there were few fights as well. I would be lying if I said that our relationship was perfect," Zonic closed his eyes, "One thing for sure. We always knew how to apologize after our argument so it wasn't so bad."

"Hmph. Did Zhadow treat you well?" Shadow looked around Zonic's bookshelf as he continued with questions.

"He treated me like how you treat Sonic prime," Zonic answered with a smirk on his face. The head zone cop could see one of Shadow's ears twitching and it was pretty amusing to see.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shadow tried to keep his cool.

"You know _exactly_ what I mean Shadow," Zonic thought this was his chance to push some of the ultimate life form's button. "Acting like you don't care on the outside but you show a lot of concern on the inside. _That's_ how Zhadow treated me. Sounds like someone?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," muttered Shadow and Zonic quietly chuckled at the response he got.

'Shadow and Sonic prime would make a nice couple. You're lucky I'm modest Sonic prime or I would have tried to take Shadow away from you,' Zonic thought to himself as he flopped onto his own bed. 'I miss Zhadow...' Zonic inhaled the cold air deeply.

Just then, Zonic and Shadow saw a blue blur passing in front of the office's door. Few seconds later, the owner of the blue light came dashing back, facing the two hedgehogs alone in the room.

"Yo! What are you guys doing?" Sonic forced a smile when he came into Zonic's room.

"Hm? Hey there, Sonic prime. Shadow was just asking me few questions about Zhadow," replied Zonic and he gently pushed himself off the bed.

"Well, you guys could have done that in the lobby or something..." Sonic whispered to himself but Shadow managed to hear it with his sensitive ears. "Zonic do you have any spare shower room that I can use?"

"You taking a shower?" This time it was Shadow's turn to be surprised. "If I remember correctly, Sonic despises water."

"That doesn't mean I don't wash myself, Shadow," Sonic grinned and touched his own quills. "I just feel like taking a shower. You know, get my mind off from things"

"More like you already took the shower from the rain, Faker," said Shadow teasingly.

"Shadow! I had no idea you like to groom yourself with filthy rain water," Sonic also didn't want to lose this argument as well.

"Okay, that's enough with lover's argument for today, don't you think?" Zonic stepped in using his serious tone as if Shadow and Sonic were already in a relationship.

"What?! Zonic! Stop kidding around with that!" Sonic was the first to say while Shadow looked unaffected.

"You can use my bathroom, Sonic prime," Zonic ignored the fuming blue hedgehog as he handed him his keys for the access. "I have to do my rotation for this building anyways before the night time. Shadow, would you like to join?"

Sonic's ears perked up as he shifted his emerald eyes to the black hedgehog. Shadow also felt Sonic's intense stare but he pretended not to know.

"I'll just stay here to babysit this hedgehog," Shadow pointed at Sonic, "I don't want him to break any of your stuff."

Zonic was a little disappointed but this was what he expected. 'I am the one who's trying to get these two together anyways,' he signed to himself.

"Alright Shadow and before I forget, I left the yellow chaos emerald in one of the ground level security room. Tell me if you want to have it back when you leave No Zone," said Zonic and he walked out of the room, leaving two hedgehogs alone.

"I'm not a child, Shadow. You can go and hang out with Zonic if you want," said Sonic as he unlocked Zonic's bathroom with the key.

"You cried like a child back there." Sonic could sense that Shadow was probably smiling while he said that.

"You just love to push my buttons, buddy." The blue hedgehog opened the door and was surprised at how small the restroom was. He imagined a very large bathroom with elegant details like how he saw it in the movies. There was only a small bath tub, space for two towels, a sink and a toilet. The place was small but it had everything that an ordinary bathroom needed.

"Seriously though, you don't have to wait for me or anything like that," Sonic laughed and carefully closed the bathroom door before Shadow had the chance to say anything. As soon as the black hedgehog heard Sonic turning on the shower head, he turned around and looked through Zonic's book shelf once more. He looked for something interesting to read until a small picture that was used for a bookmark fell on Shadow's hover shoes.

"What's this?" Shadow murmured as he picked up the picture.

It was one of those sticker pictures that you can take in small booth. The picture had Zhadow and Zonic wearing zone cop uniform as usual. What amused Shadow was what was actually happening in the picture. Zhadow had one of his hands on Zonic's waist as he tried to give him a peck on the blue zone cop's cheek. Zonic was on other hand had two of his hands on Zhadow's chest, trying to push him away with narrowed eyes. At this moment, Shadow imagined how the picture would have come out if it was him and Sonic. One of them might have destroyed the picture booth that's for sure.

"Argg! I can't... get to the... center of... my quills!" Sonic shouted in the shower while he tried his hardest to reach to the deepest part in his large back quills. Usually when Sonic was at his house, he had a long bath scrub that can easily clean the inner part of his blue quills. Without it, Sonic could only clean the sides and the top parts. "If only my hands were longer," Sonic massaged his pulled muscle on the right arm as he released the soap.

While the blue hedgehog was ranting in Zonic's shower room, Shadow managed to hear a groan mixed with frustration that belonged to Sonic. Shadow pinched the center of his eyes at Sonic's nonsense as he carefully opened the bathroom door.

"Do you complain in the bathroom too?" Shadow came in and closed the door behind him so the steams wouldn't leave.

"Gyah! Shadow! A little privacy if you don't mind?" Sonic almost slipped while he was still in the bad tub taking a quick shower.

The ultimate life form rolled his eyes, "It's not like you wear a uniform," Shadow pointed out, "The only difference is you without those running shoes."

"Y-Yeah but... still!" Sonic was glad that there was a shower curtain between him and Shadow. Well, that is until the black hedgehog decided to pull it away so he could see Sonic clearly. "Ah! Stop scaring me, dude!" Sonic frowned and Shadow smirked at how he can easily torture the blue hero.

"... Do you need help?" Shadow suggested as he pointed at Sonic's large quills.

Sonic bit his lips to secretly calm himself down, "If you don't mind doing it then I don't see why I would say no."

"Then it's settled. Move over," commanded Shadow as he took off his shoes and gloves to enter the small bath tub with Sonic. The blue hedgehog thought this very bizarre and not to mention embarrassing while the ultimate life form didn't seem to be bothered by it.

"Hehheh, I never thought you would really do it, Shadow," chuckled Sonic. He then handed the soap to Shadow. The black hedgehog didn't say anything much. He just gave the blue blur a signal to turn around and began to scrub the center of the quill. As Shadow's hand reached deeper part of Sonic's large quills, the blue hedgehog wagged his tail a little in relaxation and how good it felt.

"Geeze slow it down!" Sonic laughed from the tickling sensation, "It's not a contest you know."

"I'm guessing you're enjoying this," said Shadow as he worked on second part of Sonic's quill.

"I totally deserve this treatment after what you made me go through, pal," said Sonic in his usual cocky voice. That's the kind of Sonic that Shadow missed hearing.

Shadow then slowed down his movement with the soap as he fell into his own little world. The ultimate life form was wondering if he was the only one feeling this different emotion ever since he and Sonic started to spend more time together. At first, the black hedgehog admitted that it was a pain allowing Sonic to join him but after all the events that they went through, something happened. Shadow's perspective on Sonic altered dramatically. He wanted Sonic to continue to stay by his side as long as possible. Was this normal?

'I should just ask him directly,' Shadow thought to himself when his hand completely stopped. Sonic realized this as well tilted his head in confusion.

"Okay, I don't want you to go that slow on me. Hello? Shadow?" Sonic turned around and gave an innocent look to the black hedgehog's red eyes, "What's the matter? Did I hurt your ego on going too fast?" Sonic grinned but the smile quickly faded when Shadow turned him around and placed both of his hands on Sonic's shoulders.

"Okay you got me. What are you mad about this time?" Sonic still thought Shadow was playing around with him.

"I need to you answer me seriously," said Shadow with a monotone.

"Alright, alright. It's hard to do if you're not giving me too many options. Give it to me."

"What do you think of me as?" Shadow was the type of hedgehog that was never around the bush. His question was solid and clear which caused Sonic to have a little sweat drop forming.

"W-where is this suddenly coming from, Shadow?" Sonic could feel Shadow's grip getting stronger as he was completely pushed back to the bathroom's wall at this point.

"The more time I spent time with you over the past few days, you seemed to act a little different around me. Other words, you don't just look like an arrogant, cocky, hyperactive hedgehog who only loves to insult his enemies and run," Shadow said bluntly.

"I'll repeat again, Shadow. Where are you getting this idea from?" asked Sonic a little more softly.

Shadow didn't need to have time to answer that question. "Ever since when we met your friend Zonic, you seem to run away every time when I talk to him. I don't think there was a time when you were there when Zonic and I had a proper conversation."

"That's because I want you to get along with Zonic," Sonic fought back.

"Again with your excuses," Shadow rolled his eyes, "It's just…there were times when I don't know what is going on in that head of yours. Even when you told me that you protect the ones you love, what was that all about?"

"Well, I... that's what I do."

"I just want to know Sonic," Shadow shook the blue hero a little against the bathroom wall, "Your actions confuse me ever since we got into this whole Mephiles business. Even you know that you act different around me, right?"

Sonic realized that he should stop being around the bush anymore. 'Heh, I guess Shadow is not slow as I hoped,' Sonic tried his best to avoid Shadow's gaze. The blue hero inhaled deeply as the hot steam entered his throat. The shower was still on but both hedgehogs didn't bother to turn it off.

"Hey Shadow?" the green eyes became softer. The black hedgehog didn't say anything but continued to give Sonic the attention he needed.

"Would this be a lame time to say that-" Sonic swallowed hard, "I kind of, sort of," Sonic shut his eyes tightly when he finally confessed, "...love you?"

'He's going to kill me I just know it!' Sonic's voice cried in his head as he continued to keep his eyes closed. The only sound that the blue blur picked up were the hot water dripping down from the shower head. To Sonic, it felt like Shadow was not even present anymore.

The same idea crossed Shadow's mind as well. It felt like the whole world stopped and it was just two of them, thinking about what just happened. 'Did he really say that? To me?' Shadow asked this question for the thousandth of times.

When the black hedgehog heard Sonic's shy and rather awkward confession, Shadow could have sworn his heart beat faster as if he just finished an intense battle. The grip on Sonic's shoulder became a lot weaker and Shadow started to feel a small blush creeping up from his face. Shadow carefully thought about Sonic's confession and began to realize that maybe… he might be in in the same position with Sonic as well.

That explained why Shadow cared so much about Sonic's safety. Why he was so pissed off when Zhadow was on top of Sonic, stealing the blue hedgehog's first kiss. Shadow also didn't enjoy when he had to listen to Sonic's laugh which was caused by Amy. Not to mention, Sonic completely placed Shadow into a panic attack when the blue blue turned into a hedgehog Popsicle. The arrogant but friendly and warm personality of Sonic finally captured Shadow's attention. Not to mention his heart. It's been a while since Shadow was treated with so much care ever since Maria was gone. While lot of people considered Shadow as a callous killing machine or a project that went deadly wrong for humankind, Sonic was one of those few people that still managed to call him his friend.

"It would be a lame timing," Shadow finally broke the silence, "But not when it's coming out from your mouth, Sonic."

"...?" Sonic opened one of his eyes to check if Shadow was not angry with him. "So, you're not going to hit me or anything like that?" Sonic wanted to check while he processed everything.

"Why don't you find out yourself, Faker," Shadow teased and leaned in closer to close the small gap that was between them.

Sonic could feel his eye lids becoming heavier by themselves as he finally closed them to sense more of Shadow's lips on his. The blue hedgehog thought the day would never come when he would be kissed by his old rival. As Shadow tried to deepen kiss, Sonic felt his whole body heating up and the blue hedgehog would be lying if the cause of the heat was only from the hot water running down his blue body.

Shadow's dominant side started to take over when his hands slowly traveled downward from Sonic's shoulders. The pinned hedgehog noticed that one of Shadow's hand traced down his arms until he reached Sonic's peach colored hand while the other hand skillfully went down to the waist.

The blue hedgehog shivered a little when Shadow gently stroked him on his waist upward and downward while continuing to give a passionate kiss.

'Wow... this feels pretty nice,' Sonic didn't really want to admit but the sensation was just too much for him. He sensed all of Shadow's movement and when Sonic finally opened his mouth to moan in pleasure, the dominant hedgehog decided to take this chance to explore the inside of the mouth.

Sonic's eyes shot opened when he felt Shadow's tongue and for some reason, he panicked a little. Since Sonic never tried French Kissing with anyone in his entire life as a hero, he didn't know what to do. This was the moment when the blue blur wished he wasn't so inexperienced. But Shadow didn't seem to mind at all and Sonic gently closed his eyes again.

The black hedgehog explored every part and felt proud when he earned some faint pleasurable sound from Sonic in return. Shadow's hand intertwined with one of Sonic's hand while his other hand on the blue blur's waist tightened. When Shadow was also too lost in their lustful kiss, he didn't realize that he was moving a little forward until their bodies met in a close contact. Sonic blushed madly at Shadow touch as he felt the cold bathroom tile on his back.

'One thing for sure, Shadow's hands are a lot warmer than Zhadow,' Sonic grinned during the kiss.

Sonic decided to release his intertwined hand he wrapped both of his hands around Shadow, pulling him closer. Shadow smirked at Sonic's sudden bravery as he gently played around with Sonic's tongue. The ultimate life form opened his eyes very little to have a small glance on the submissive hedgehog in front of him, just begging for more love. 'I thought I would never see you acting so needy,' Shadow grinned as he used his hand to trace Sonic's body from the top to the bottom of the waist.

"….Ng" Sonic tried his best to breathe a little without ruining his passionate kiss with Shadow. When the black hedgehog noticed Sonic's struggle, Shadow pulled away but gave one peck on his lover's cheek. Sonic shivered and a small groan escaped his lips again before opening his eyes only a half way.

"Just breathe a little," Shadow murmured as he placed more kisses onto Sonic's cheek and the blue hedgehog tightened his hug around Shadow. The electric sensation traveled from the top to the bottom as Sonic let out a deep sigh. His breathing, or more like gasping for air, became a lot faster when Shadow decided to place some gentle kisses along the peach part of Sonic's chest. Sonic with his half lidded eyes, just barely saw what Shadow was doing to him before the black hedgehog took his lips again.

The warm water running down on Sonic and Shadow's body made both hedgehogs more sensitive to each other's touches. When the blue hero was about to slide his hands down on Shadow's back quill, the black hedgehog quickly reacted by pinning his hands back to the cold tile. For some reason, Shadow wanted to be in complete control and didn't want to receive any distraction from the hedgehog in front of him.

When the ultimate life form slowly opened his eyes again to see how Sonic was reacting, he decided to give one last kiss before deciding to move on to Sonic's shoulder, his neck and his jawline. The black hedgehog could feel Sonic shivering and he wasn't too sure if this was from the pleasure or not. But to keep Sonic's shaking under control, Shadow pushed his body a little to keep Sonic still.

"...?! S-Shadow...," Sonic blushed madly at closer contact he received from Shadow as he felt Shadow's body tightly pushing his body against the wall. The blue hedgehog had an odd sensation. His back was a little cold from the bathroom tile with an occasional hot water reaching down while his front was heating up like some mad fire. Sonic allowed one last quiet moan escape from his lips before Shadow finally decided to give some break to tortured Sonic.

Both hedgehogs panted and no words came out as the shower head continued to waste tremendous amount of water. Even though Shadow had a darker fur color, Sonic could tell that the ultimate life form blushed from their kiss as well.

"Wow," Sonic licked his own lips as he finally opened his eyes clearly, "Y-You're pretty good. Did Rouge tell you how to kiss professionally?"

"Very funny, Sonic," Shadow released his Sonic from the wall, "I'll let you know that was my first and it's still hard to believe my first kiss went to you."

"Really? You got to be kidding! I thought you already did this so many times!" cried Sonic as he imaged Shadow's lips locked with his as the black hedgehog's hands roamed every part of his body. Not to mention, Sonic was pretty much turned on when Shadow decided to lean closer and allow their wet bodies to contact.

Shadow just gave off a soft laughter when he heard Sonic's compliment. The blue hero also chuckled along with him until he tapped the ultimate life form's shoulder again.

"Hey Shadow, I don't remember asking you to stop," Sonic smirked and pulled Shadow closer to him once more.

"Am I that addicting to you, Faker?" Shadow narrowed his eyes as he took Sonic's lips for the third time.

From the outside of the restroom, Zonic managed to hear most of the conversation that happened as he continued to lean against the wall. Zonic estimated that at this point, both of the hedgehogs were having a major make out session. With some panting and quiet moaning sounds here and there, Zonic strongly believed that those two finally decided develop the romantic side of their relationship.

The zone cop got off from the wall and found the small picture that Shadow previously found from the bookshelf. Zonic studied the picture of himself and Zhadow for the last time before he shredded into pieces with his hands.

"I have to stop living in the past," Zonic muttered coldly and threw the trash out the window. He felt happy for Sonic but a small part of him did wish that Shadow would have somewhat interest in him as well. But Zonic knew that it was both unethical and would never happen in the first place.

The more Zonic thought about Sonic and Shadow being together, the holes in his heart grew bigger and Zonic knew that no one would be able to fix this type of injury.

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**Woah... even I'm surprised at the detailed kiss haha XD**


	18. Sad Couple and Cute Couple

**PLEASE READ PLEASE READ PLEASE READ!**

**IN THE BEGINNING THERE IS A SMALL M RATED SCENE BETWEEN ZONIC AND ZHADOW**

**(I UNDERSTAND NOT EVERYONE READS M RATED STUFF WHICH IS TOTALLY FINE! It doesn't affect the story at all!) **

**IF YOU WANT TO SKIP M RATED SCENE THEN KEEP SCROLLING DOWN UNTIL YOU SEE THIS SIGN: **

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**YOU  
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**HAVE**

**BEEN**

**WARNED**

**C:**

**Start of Rated M (Scroll down if you want to skip please!)**

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_(Zonic and Zhadow's Past relationship)_

"Zhadow," Zonic panted as he tried to keep himself losing conscious from huge amount of pleasure his boyfriend gave.

"You're ears are twitching, how cute," said Zhadow in a lustful voice

He released one of his hands from Zonic's waist to touch one of the ears. "I'm guessing you're at the climax, right?"

When the head zone cop didn't reply aside from constant gasping for air, Zhadow decided to give a harder thrust inside the blue hedgehog. This surely helped Zonic to return back to the reality as he felt himself getting stretched more inside.

"Alright! Alright!" Zonic arched his head a little back, "I...I think I'm g-going to.. ha...come soon," Zonic whispered with a huge blush on his face. He hated when Zhadow made him say how he exactly felt every time when they made love. Not only was it difficult for the blue zone cop but it was also downright embarrassing. 'I'm going to give him double the work load once we're done,' thought Zonic.

Both hedgehogs were currently inside one of a small confidence rooms that could only be locked from the inside. After Zonic finished lecturing intern zone cops about the rules they needed to follow and how to handle certain inmates, Zhadow decided to come in. The black zone cop waited until everyone left and locked the door behind him. It first started out as a friendly couple talk which slowly progressed into a heated kiss. Finally, Zhadow pushed Zonic against the wall and wanted to try a different position in making love since they were in a new location.

Zhadow suggested using one of the tables in the confidence room but Zonic refused strongly since he didn't want to clean it up later. The head zone cop then went to the corner of the wall and leaned against it, signaling Zhadow that he wanted to just do it by standing up.

Of course, Zhadow was extremely turned on by Zonic's narrowed eyes filled with need as he leaned suggestively against the wall. The black zone cop smiled and came closer. After they shared a kiss, Zhadow asked Zonic to turn around so Zonic's stomach would be touching the back wall. Zhadow first started to finger him and few minutes later, they were both lost in pleasure.

"If you're almost finished then I would also pick up the pace," muttered Zhadow as he increased both speed and strength of his thrust inside his lover. Zonic felt mixture of pain and pleasure and this was a very addicting sensation, especially for the head zone cop.

"Ah! Don't you _dare_ go too rough on me," hissed Zonic while he threw his head back. Zhadow took this chance to give a small lick on Zonic's ear before talking back to him.

"What are you going to do if I go rough on you?" Zhadow challenged as he carefully used his hand to slide down on to Zonic's thigh. Zonic frowned a little when he felt something rubber down his leg. The head zone cop bit his lips when he realized that Zhadow continued to have his uniform gloves on. Zonic thought after the fingering, Zhadow would have taken it off by now but he didn't. This bothered the blue hedgehog as he tried to clear his mind to speak properly.

"Z-Zhadow?" Zonic managed to call out his lover's name before losing his sanity.

"What is it?" the black hedgehog was a little surprised at the head zone cop's sudden change in topic.

"You can take of your glove to touch me. I really don't mind at all," said Zonic as he closed his eyes.

"..." Zhadow started to slow down his thrusting and tried to have a peak at Zonic's face expression. It was hard since the black hedgehog was behind him. The black hedgehog carefully thought about what Zonic meant. He was an incomplete ultimate life form, the discontinued project that surprised the entire scientist when he continued to live his life today. He looked at his hand and thought about what was under. The carbon diamond hands although many people chooses to say metal hands because it simply looks like solid metal. But what Zhadow had was a lot tougher and stronger than any ordinary metals. Zhadow hated to show this part of him, even to Zonic, because it made it look like robot designed to cause destruction.

Zonic gave out a soft laughter as he narrowed his eyes, "I want you to feel me, not your gloves, Zhadow."

"Wouldn't it be uncomfortable for you?" Zhadow asked with a clear indication of worry in his face. The head zone cop didn't want his lover to think that he was different from anyone else every time when he revealed his mechanic hands. To Zonic, he didn't care too much as long as he was being dominated and loved by Zhadow. Zonic turned his head around just enough to meet with Zhadow's red eyes staring at him.

"Take off your gloves. That's an order from your Boss, Zhadow," said Zonic with a smirk on his lips.

"If that's an order then I can't refuse that now," complied Zhadow as he took off both of his purple gloves to reveal the silver hands that gave off his own reflection.

"N-now hurry and continue to move," Zonic tried to move his own hips but it didn't really help since they were both standing up, "I'm tired of waiting."

"Getting a little impatient, aren't we, Boss?" Zhadow whispered to Zonic's ear as he started to push inside the blue hedgehog again. Every thrust that Zhadow made, Zonic felt his spine shivering. It even made it hard for Zonic to not scream out in pleasure when Zhadow began to roam his front part of the body with his artificial hands.

From Zonic's back, the black hedgehog gave small kisses and earned some quiet moan as a reward. After few moment of heated love making, Zhadow started to feel that he could no longer tolerate the wave of sexual satisfaction as he felt the need to release. But of course, Zhadow didn't want to be the one that came first before Zonic did. It was just one of those things that the black zone cop cared about for whatever the reason might be.

The black hedgehog hesitated a little before sliding one of his hands down from Zonic's front chest onto further down until he finally found what he was looking for.

"Z-Zhadow...! That... that feels good," Zonic cried out with half lidded eyes when he felt a cold sensation wrapping around his arousal. When Zhadow started to play around with his metal hands in various directions, the coldness turned into a heated friction.

Zonic shut his eyes tightly and tried to keep himself quiet because of the fear of getting caught by other zone cop members in the facility. But when Zhadow's grip around his arousal became harder and the stroke became faster, the blue hedgehog finally let out a loud moan. Zhadow could feel himself getting more excited by Zonic's reaction as he used his other free hand to gently cover his boy friend's mouth from the behind. Few minutes later, Zonic screamed in pleasure even with Zhadow's hand over his mouth as he finally ended his climax. When the head zone cop was panting for air, Zhadow also quickly came to release inside of Zonic who arched his head as he felt the warm liquid.

The love making between the two hedgehogs were finally finished and when Zonic was about to fall onto his knee, Zhadow quickly came to support.

"I'm the one who did all the work you know," Zhadow panted as he tightly held on to Zonic.

Although the black hedgehog was behind him, Zonic's ear shifted to where Zhadow's voice was coming from. "Hey, I had to deal with your nonsense while you screwed me," Zonic commented back.

"Don't make me laugh, Zonic," Zhadow rolled his eyes, "You know you loved it."

Zonic growled but he accepted because it was the embarrassing truth. "You know me too well."

"If you loved it then it's clearly not nonsense," said Zhadow and he placed a small kiss on Zonic's lips before they stood up together.

Zonic scratched his back quills and looked around the floor to see their uniform. Zhadow realized that Zonic wanted to quickly dress up and leave before anyone starts to suspect where their missing Boss might be. The black zone cop picked up the red uniform and handed over to Zonic while he started to dress up in the black one.

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When Zonic finished wearing his uniform with the yellow belt on, he also placed his helmet on (the one that doesn't cover his back quills) and silently waited for Zhadow to finish. The black hedgehog frowned and wondered why Zonic would suddenly wear the helmet until he found the answer to himself. Zonic was still madly blushing from their previous incident. Zhadow smiled at Zonic's cute reaction.

"We should do more love making in the public, Zonic," said Zhadow. The black hedgehog knew that Zonic was blushing again even though he couldn't really see his face expression.

"I-If only I'm not busy," Zonic stuttered and Zhadow laughed at his before opening the door for his Boss. "Oh and Zhadow?"

Zhadow just tiled his head and allowed the blue zone cop to continue.

"Be prepared to receive extra loads of works."

"W-what?" Zhadow stumbled backward, "But why?"

"For torturing me and going rough on me. That's why," Zonic said with a stoic expression. Zhadow closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh until he heard Zonic speak again. "I'm just kidding, Zhadow."

"You're really bad at joking around," Zhadow chuckled and both zone cops separated in different direction to start their work. While Zhadow was working on monitoring different zone worlds, he received an e-mail from his creator in Space Colony Ark located in No Zone.

'He accepted my request to finish engineering me?' Zhadow re-read the letter thousands of times. A small smile lit up to the black hedgehog when the thought of changing from the incomplete product to an ultimate life form repeated in his mind. People might start to see him less as a robot and more like a living being. Also, if his scientist accepted his request then that meant the government no longer held fear against Project Zhadow anymore right?

(In chapter 16 Zonic explains that the reason why Zhadow is incomplete is because the government was scared that Zhadow would turn into a killing machine. Project Zhadow was shut down but somehow Zhadow managed to live even though he was never completely created.)

Zhadow looked at his purple gloved hands and thought about how it would feel to have real hands that can sense. 'I have to let Zonic know,' thought Zhadow. He rose from his chair and quickly skated to Zonic's head quarter. The black hedgehog pressed the password entered inside.

"Zhadow? What's the surprise visit all of the sudden?" Zonic finally had his helmet off when the blush faded away.

"I receive the e-mail from my scientist that they would finish Project: Zhadow."

Zonic's eyes dilated for a moment when he heard such happy news. "I can't believe it! Does that mean they will finally finish?"

"It's hard to believe it myself but they must have sorted out the issue with the government," explained Zhadow.

Zonic finally stood up from the main computer chair and for the first time, the blue zone cop decided to give a hug to Zhadow. Zonic was really not the type to give hugs even to Zhadow because it was just not his style. Even when Zhadow asked Zonic to be his boyfriend, Zonic just replied a small thank you but there weren't any hugging or kissing between them. Zhadow understood that Zonic was not good at expressing his emotion through body language so he respected that.

"You seem very happy," Zhadow said softly when he received a hug from Zonic for the first time in his life.

"Zhadow, this is such a good news. I really am happy for you," Zonic tightened his hug. The head zone cop knew how Zhadow felt being the incomplete product. From time to time, Zonic heard other zone cops talking about Zhadow once in a while about how weird that he's still living even though he was never finished. That caused a lot of people to think that Zhadow was really a robot and not a living being. There were other times when Zhadow had trouble controlling his power of the metal hands that resulted in few destructions of the zone cop facility. Some zone cops secretly joked about that incident, calling Zhadow a malfunctioning robot who doesn't even know his own strength.

When Zonic first met Zhadow who asked him to be the member of the zone cop, the blue hedgehog also didn't like the idea at all. With all the rumors about Zhadow being a strange, bizarre and an unfinished product created by unknown scientists walking around in No Zone, Zonic rejected Zhadow at first. But when Zhadow told him that he had nowhere to go and was willing to work in zone cop department in low status like cleaning or cooking duty, Zonic allowed him in.

After observing Zhadow for so many times, Zonic decided to hire his position from a computer technician to a high status zone cop. What Zonic also didn't suspect was that he would fall deeply in love with Zhadow as they spent more time together. Zonic could still remember the day when Zhadow asked him to be his boyfriend. Zonic rarely blushed around people but in front of Zhadow, he felt his face warming up very often.

"We should really celebrate before you leave for Space Colony Ark. When are they planning to finish the project?" Zonic tried to be careful with his word choice. If he said something along the lines of, "When are they going to finish building you?" or "When are they completing you?" he knew that it would hurt Zhadow to some degree.

"They want me to visit tomorrow around late noon. I guess if you want to celebrate we have to do it today but we are full on our schedule," replied Zhadow. "It's really fine, Zonic." The black zone cop knew that his boyfriend hated to be behind work schedule.

"Hey, I'm the Boss around this department and I can rearrange some schedules," said Zonic to Zhadow's surprise. "I would probably have some catching up to do tomorrow after you leave but its fine."

"Are you sure, Zonic?" Zhadow sounded a little skeptical.

"Zhadow you have no idea how happy I am with the news. We'll leave early today and do whatever you want to do for the rest of the day," said Zonic as he started to change some schedules around in his notebook.

Zhadow smiled softly as he came closer to the busy hedgehog. "Well then, maybe I should treat you into something sweet tonight," Zhadow said in a seducing voice. Zonic stopped writing and gently released the pencil to return that same lustful look to his boyfriend.

"Maybe you should," answered Zonic in a submissive tone before they shared a short kiss.

_(Present time)_

"And then we had our last mission together before Zhadow left to Space Colony Ark," thought Zonic as he poked his meal. "He came back... but was extremely acting strange after that. I thought it was one of those post-surgery effects but Zhadow was never the same."

While the head zone cop sat in the cafeteria alone with an untouched meal, Sonic and Shadow finally finished making out in the shower room. Shadow decided to pull from the kiss first because he didn't want to take their un-expected relationship too fast, even for Sonic.

"Wow, we wasted so much water today," said Sonic as he turned off the shower head.

"It's mainly your fault for wanting to continue our session for so long, Faker," Shadow pretended to be mad but Sonic knew the ultimate life form was playing around.

"Don't tell me you didn't enjoy it, buddy," Sonic gave a small nudge and Shadow just looked away in a blush. The blue hero replayed the whole season a couple of times before he tapped Shadow's back.

"So Shadow, I was just wondering," the blue blur reached for Zonic's towel and began to dry himself off. "Since we got to know each other better… a lot better actually," Sonic felt a small heat inside him as he continued, "Does that make us... a.. uh…couple?" Sonic felt like a girl asking this but he had to know before having any false hopes on Shadow. "You know like… mates? Being in a relationship and all?"

Shadow rolled his eyes at Sonic's absurd question. 'I guess he just wants to check with me,' Shadow chuckled to himself.

"Do you see walking around and kissing random hedgehogs, Sonic?" Shadow said in a serious tone.

"Dude, that would be pretty funny though!" Sonic couldn't help but to laugh at the image of Shadow acting like a player. The black hedgehog narrowed his eyes and decided to give a small pinch on Sonic's ear to get his attention.

"OWowowow!" Sonic slapped Shadow's hand away.

"The point is, you don't see me doing that," explained Shadow as he sighed deeply. "So what do think that makes us?"

"Ex-rivals that started to date each other?" Sonic still had that playful tone as he handed the towel to his new boy friend.

"Hmph. I can already tell that my first relationship is going to be difficult," Shadow muttered under his breath.

"Difficult but worth it, right?" Sonic said with innocent emerald eyes.

For the first time, Shadow actually though Sonic was acting a little... well.. adorable although the ultimate life form would never admit that to anyone. "Damn worth it, Sonic," he said and placed the towel back to its original location.

"First relationship huh? Me too! It's a little hard to believe that was your first kiss though. I have to admit, you acted like a pro back there," Sonic gently tapped Shadow's lips. "A lot better than Zhadow I'll give you that," Sonic purred.

"You're just easy to please," Shadow simply replied. The ultimate life form was telling Sonic the truth. He really had no experience what so ever so during the kiss, Shadow just followed his inner instinct. He was glad that Sonic liked every second of it because Shadow sure did and would love to repeat it in the near future. "I hope you will be easy to please in bed as well," he said it quietly but Sonic thankfully didn't catch Shadow's last part of the sentence.

When both hedgehogs opened the door, Zonic was still nowhere to be seen. Shadow looked around the dark room and realized that the picture he dropped (the one with Zonic and Zhadow) was no longer there anymore. That gave a signal to Shadow that the zone cop was in this room few moments ago.

"Sonic," Shadow called out in a low tone.

"Yeah? What's the matter?" Sonic turned around and met his eyes with Shadow.

"We should keep our relationship on a low volume in front of Zonic for now."

"Huh?" Sonic was a little confused. The blue hero actually wanted to tell Zonic that Shadow finally belonged to him. "Why all of the sudden?"

Shadow sighed a little before he continued. "Think about it. If I died by the anti-chaos gun back there and Zonic all of the sudden out of nowhere told you that he was back together with Zhadow, would you be happy?"

"I mean, first of all why should it be my business that Zonic and Zhadow are…" Sonic trailed off as he tried to figure out what Shadow meant. Sonic would be extremely devastated if Shadow lost his life during the battle. The blue hero probably thought he might actually stay in his darker form permanently. 'If I was all feeling down and see Zonic and Zhadow together, guess it would bother me at some level,' Sonic nodded so himself. The fact that Zonic and Zhadow looked a lot like himself and Shadow was the problem.

"Don't you think if Zonic sees us together, then it would just remind him about himself and Zhadow?" the ultimate life form explained again.

"Woah! Hold on a minute," Sonic interrupted, "How do you know that Zonic and Zhadow were in a relationship before? I don't remember you reading Zonic's notebook his past relationship?"

"Zonic told me some important stories about himself when I talked with him a couple of times," said Shadow.

"I'm guessing I wasn't there, right?" Sonic scratched his ear a little with a cocky attitude. Although he and Shadow were now officially boyfriend and well… boyfriend, Sonic still had that small jealousy when Shadow talked about Zonic. Even the thought of those hedgehogs being together ticked off Sonic but he didn't want to admit that to Shadow.

"You were kidnapped from Zhadow when he told me that," said Shadow as he closed the bathroom door behind him.

"Alright Shadow. I guess we can keep our relationship under the cover but that doesn't mean you can flirt around with other hedgehogs, especially with Zonic," Sonic raised his index finger to make an emphasis. "You are mine, pal."

Shadow laughed softly and this caused Sonic to have a small grin on his face a little. The blue hedgehog didn't know why but he loved to see Shadow laugh especially if the ultimate life form's happiness was caused by him.

"Sonic, please don't tell me that you envied Zonic every time when I was with him," commented Shadow,

"Me? Jealous?" Sonic pointed at himself and pretended to act surprised, "No way Shadow! If you call wanting to pull Zonic away from you every time you guys had a little chit-chat a jealousy then well-"

"Your hopeless, Sonic," Shadow made his conclusion.

"Hopelessly in love with you, Shadow," Sonic said innocently and he felt Shadow pulling him closer. When the blue hedgehog was right next to Shadow, the black hedgehog gave a small kiss on his cheek before releasing him.

"But don't get too jealous when I'm talking to Zonic. Just because I'm acting nice around him doesn't make me a player," reminded Shadow.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll just have to keep my eyes on you," Sonic smirked and decided to walk out from Zonic's room. The black hedgehog sneered a little at Sonic's comment but couldn't help but to think that Sonic's possessive attitude was rather cute. There was no way the ultimate life form would let Sonic take in charge of their new relationship though.

"Don't steal my lines," Shadow prompted his cocky boyfriend and quickly followed behind him.

"Or what Shadow?" Sonic spun around and pretended to play the innocent game, "Just to let you know, I'm one difficult hedgehog to tame. So don't expect me to all act submissive to you," said Sonic as he narrowed his eyes playfully.

"You were damn submissive back in the shower room," Shadow murmured softly and this caused Sonic to flush all over in his peach muzzle. For the first time, Sonic didn't have anything good to say in order to defend himself because what Shadow was technically one hundred percent truth. During their romantic kiss, Sonic didn't even act like himself as he remembered begging Shadow to continue and feeling for once in his life, defenseless in front of Shadow.

"What's wrong Sonic? Did I say something incorrect?" Shadow came closer and gently brushed Sonic's cheek with back of his hand. The ultimate life form knew that he had Sonic in the corner since the blue hero had nothing smart to say back to Shadow. Sonic just pouted a little in defeat as he ran downstairs to the first floor.

"This is going to be an interesting relationship," Shadow grinned to himself and quickly skated to follow his blue blur.

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**I hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter as well and yes yes, I get a lot of questions if Zonic and Zhadow are going to be together but no spoilers yet!**

**Thanks you guys! The reviews really make me happy and my hedgehogs happy ;)**


	19. I Loved You, Zonic

**Minor Warning: There is no M scene but there is a implied M stuff. Mostly due to inmates giving sexual assult to our poor Zonic :(**

**Good thing Zhadow took care of that later XD**

******Summary: How Zhadow lost all of his memory? **

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(Zonic's past)

"Arg... What time is it?" Zonic felt a warm sun light shining on to his eyes. The head zone cop yawned a little and tried to get off from his bed but felt two strong hands pulling him back into the soft bed. Zonic turned around slowly and realize that Zhadow was also awake as well.

"Where do you think you're going?" said Zhadow as he snuggled onto Zonic's back. The blue hedgehog laughed softly when he felt a tickling sensation.

"Zhadow, we have to deliver inmate number 3499 to the level B No Zone before you leave to Space Colony Ark. Remember?" reminded Zonic. Zhadow purposely gave out a huge sigh as he thought about the morning mission that they had to do. The black zone cop was still glad that he can spend his time together with his boyfriend.

"Hmm I just want to spend a little more time with you..." whispered Zhadow and he pulled the blue zone cop closer to him. Zonic closed his eyes and felt Zhadoe's warm breath from his ears which caused the blue hedgehog to blush.

The head zone cop also felt lazy about going to work. 'Yesterday was a pretty great night though,' Zonic grinned to himself. When both hedgehogs went home early, Zhadow decided to treat Zonic into one of his favorite restaurant. After some romantic dinner between them, Zhadow asked Zoni if they can go visit the astrology zone in another portal that only Zonic had the access to. For some reason, Zhadow enjoyed watching stars and various types of planets. Zonic assume that since his lover was created from the Space Colony Ark, that could be the reason why he like to visit these types of places. The astrology zones were more like artificial stars because that portal was used to throw away waste that were created in space. Even though it was considered to be a dangerous portal to go to, Zonic decided to fulfill Zhadow's request.

Few hours later, Zhadow and Zonic decided to return back to the head zone cop's house, Zonic asked Zhadow if he wanted to see a horror movie. Zonic hated scary movie to the point where he would rather work a double shift. Zhadow on the other hand loved to watch scary movie because he enjoyed that cryptic sensation he receives from the movie. Also, the black zone cop loved to see Zonic's reaction every time when something unpleasant happened in the movie.

When Zonic and Zhadow were done with the movie, the head zone cop complained that he couldn't get a scary scene out from his mind.

Zhadow then suggested that he can easily take care of that by distracting Zonic with something more interesting and lustful.

It started with a small kiss that progressed into much more brutal and rough. Zonic didn't mind few bites that Zhadow gave to him during the kissing. At the same time, Zhadow didn't mind when Zonic decided to tighten his grip on Zhadow's back even though the black hedgehog admitted, it was painful once in a while.

They both understood that even these small pains contributed to pleasure when they were so lost into each other. When Zhadow thought he had tasted the blue zone cop enough, the black hedgehog lifted him. Zonic actually hated when he was being treated like the girl in their relationship but this night was supposed to be special for Zhadow. Tonight would be the last day before Zhadow was sent to be completed into an ultimate life form. The head zone cop decided to play along as Zhadow took him to their private bed room. As soon as the door was closed, the sound of moaning and screaming each other's name continued what seemed like forever.

"That was a crazy night," Zonic blushed and softly kissed Zhadow's neck, "But I enjoyed it so thanks."

"Shouldn't I be the one thanking you?" Zhadow laughed a little as he jumped down from the bed. "Come on, Boss. You don't want your workers to think that you overslept

"Arg... right. Let's go," Zonic ran his hand through the back quill to somehow relieve some frustration.

The mission was fairly easy because the inmate pretty much behaved very well while they transported him to another facility. Although there were few times when the inmate tried to insult Zonic, who was the driver in this case, while Zhadow sat next to him.

"You know, there are times when we discuss in the cell if you are still a virgin or not," said the inmate who was actually another hedgehog but a little overweight.

"..." Zonic just get his eye on the road but Zhadow could see the anger boiling down in his lover as the blue zone cop narrowed his eye lids.

"Since you are so busy capturing the bad boys like us," the inmate laughed proudly, "I bet never even had a proper relationship. You're still a virgin right?"

"..." Zonic still didn't say anything.

"I don't mind you moving me into a higher level security, no problem. But can't we just make a quick stop right now so I can show you how it feels like to be fuc-"

"Shut Up before I do it for you," Zhadow turned around from his seat and glared at his prey.

"Awww don't worry. I'll let you have some fun with your Boss here. Don't tell me you don't have any grudge against him. I heard that this guy," the inmate rudely pointed at Zonic, "is a pain in the ass when it comes to work."

Zhadow couldn't take any more insults that this hedgehog gave to Zonic. 'Bastard. He doesn't know anything about Zonic,' Zhadow gritted his teeth as he punched the inmate right across the face.

"H-hey! Hey! Hey!" the large hedgehog checked to see if Zhadow broke his jaw, "You are not supposed to abuse the prisoners!"

"And you are not supposed to insult zone cops. Especially not the one that has the highest status in No Zone," warned Zhadow as he tightened the neck collar on the prisoner.

"What...what are you doing?! It's uncomfortable!"

"Quit whining," Zhadow sighed, "As long as you can breathe I'm not breaking the law."

"Zonic! Aren't you going to punish this zone cop?!" the prisoner cried for help.

Zonic just chuckled in relief. "Lesson one. Don't mess with Zhadow."

The inmate looked at Zonic and then to Zhadow and back to Zonic again. He was indeed perplexed at this point because all the sexual insults were towards the head zone cop and never to the black hedgehog. There were rumors about Zhadow that ran around inside cells as well. He was known to be very aggressive and also pretty strong especially when it comes to punching. Zhadow was the zone cop that you would not want to mess around with unless you really are brave and stupid enough to do it. The black hedgehog thought the face expression the prisoner made was too pathetic.

"If you insult Zonic, you're also insulting me. Got it?" Zhadow sounded extremely pissed off and the prisoner nodded his head quickly. After a few hour drive, Zhadow and Zonic successfully dropped of their most wanted inmate. Since they were finished with their duty, Zhadow just needed to use his portal device to get to Space Colony Ark. When Zonic got in the car, Zhadow tapped him on the shoulder.

"You really shouldn't let those disgraceful prisoners abuse you like that," said Zhadow with an icy look. But Zonic knew that those glares were formed from his boyfriend's protective side.

"It was just those guys joking around, Zhadow," reasoned Zonic. That was one aspect that Zonic didn't enjoy too much about being a head zone cop in the No Zone facility. Since he was the main Boss, this also meant that a lot of the prisoners in the jail cell knew about him very well.

The result? There are a lot of inmates out there that would want to hurt Zonic, abuse him physically, mentally, sexually and the list could go on and on. At first Zonic actually fought back to some of these prisoners but the head zone cop soon realized that he shouldn't stoop down to their insolent level.

"It was verbal abuse and you know it," said Zhadow as he gave a quick hug to the blue zone cop. "I don't want them to treat you like that. Once in a while, forget that you are a responsible zone cop and just talk back to them. Teach them who they are messing with, got it?"

One thing Zonic really enjoyed about being in a relationship with Zhadow was this. Zonic had the privilege to see the black hedgehog's caring side. At the same time, Zonic loved the feeling of showing his submissive side and obey Zhadow outside of their work.

"I'll remember that," Zonic winked and started his car. "Let me know when you are back from Space Colony Ark so we can have second celebration."

"Is it the celebration you want or me?" Zhadow smirked as he opened another portal behind him.

"Like I said, Zhadow. You know me too well," Zonic laughed quietly and waved one last goodbye before allowing the incomplete life form enter the portal. 'I hope everything goes well for you,' Zonic thought to himself as he turned his car around.

Meanwhile, as soon as Zhadow stepped into the portal he was inside the Ark. The location looked very familiar to him even though the black hedgehog left his place six years ago. Zhadow's rocket shoes echoed the solid metal floor as the artificial hedgehog searched for his creator. He checked from doors to doors. There were thousands of unlocked laboratories, which were a very odd case, and none of these rooms had any scientists. Only few of the computer machines were on but none of them had to do with Zhadow's creation.

'Where is everybody?' Zhadow looked around the Ark more. 'Did I come by during their lunch break? Maybe there was an emergency meeting.' As Zhadow tried to reason with himself regarding absence scientists who were supposed to greet him, he saw a dark figure running towards him.

'What… what is that?' Zhadow frowned and carefully adjusted his head to the hallway.

"Run you fool!" The dark creature who had very similar characteristic as Zhadow ran frantically as if he was chased by something.

"What wrong?" Zhadow refused to run but instead he got into his battle position.

"You… you must be Zhadow right?" The creature ran a little closer to Zhadow and the black zone cop couldn't keep his eyes off from him. This dark creature looked exactly like him just with green stripes on the quills and green eyes. Aside from the similar body features, Zhadow realized that this unknown creature had no mouth as well.

"Who are you?" Zhadow pointed to the mysterious hedgehog. 'And how is he talking if he has no mouth?'

"Mephiles. But now is not the good time, Zhadow," Mephiles pointed at the hallway and few seconds later, there were thousands of black creatures swarming where Zhadow and Mephiles. "We have to get to the safe place. You received am e-mail from the scientist, right?"

"Y-Yes.. But how do you know-"

"Those scientist lied everything to you!" Mephiles yelled and signaled Zhadow to run with him. The black zone cop was confused at this whole situation but he thought Mephiles was someone whom he can trust. So, Zhadow decided to tag along with Mephiles as they ran into another lab that was in the opposite direction from the infested hallway.

"What do you mean they lied to me?" Zhadow asked while they both ran, "They sent me a confirmation letter that they would finish building me."

"I received a letter from them as well, Zhadow," Mephiles said in a calm voice, "They told me that I would also get built into a finalized product. Just like you Zhadow, I too am an incomplete life form."

"Hmph. That explains a lot about why you look like me but has no mouth,"Zhadow spoke to himself.

"When I arrived to Ark just like you, I expected to see groups of scientists waiting for me so they can finish creating me. But something went wrong. As soon as I arrived here, I was met by those dark creatures that resembled hedgehogs. They look like.. clones. I think their only goal is to capture the incomplete product and destroy them."

"Your story is absurd!" Zhadow refused to believe anything that Mephiles told him, "I was supposed to become an ultimate life form. They would never throw away the work and effort they contribute to make me!"

When both hedgehogs ran away from the dark clones into a computer room and the black zone cop locked the door behind them using a secret code that Mephiles also managed to take a look. Mephiles then quickly typed in some password to the large computer to reveal an e-mail to Zhadow. The black zone cop went closer to take a look.

"This is a letter from the government sent out to the scientist that I managed to hack in," Mephiles explained while he gave some time for Zhadow to read it. While Zhadow took his time reading the email, Mephiles had a dark smirk on his face as he slowly opened the door that Zhadow previously locked.

"Wait… this e-mail doesn't have anything to do with me. Are you sure this is the corre-"

"You'll belong to me now Zhadow!" Mephiles yelled and thousands of clones that looked just liked Mephiles, except they were in the diamond form, attacked the black hedgehog at one. Without having the chance to fight, Zhadow was knocked out cold into the cold darkness. The only image that Zhadow had was his boyfriend, smiling warmly at him.

'Zonic…. He's going to be worried…' Zhadow trailed off and lost his conscious.

"This was easier than I thought," Mephiles roughly picked up Zhadow and quickly placed him into a large tube. He then connected some wires while the clones did some computer works and searched for data base to alter Zhadow's memory for good.

"I actually believe that infiltrating this base and killing off all scientists was a lot harder than taking down Zhadow. He really is a pathetic creation indeed. But…. I'm hoping that I can use you to help me gather some emeralds. I need to receive all the helps I can get."

Of course back then, Mephiles thought that even though Zhadow was incomplete life form, the black zone cop would still have the ability to sense the location of the chaos emerald just like Shadow and Sonic. Mephiles was dead wrong when he later learned that Zhadow did not have such ability and was strongly disappointed. He thought about killing off Zhadow but decided to keep him as an extra chess that he would use later.

Ever since this incident, Zhadow's memory was forcefully altered for good.

* * *

**T****hank you every for your loving interest at this story!**

**Yes I am done writing _past_ Zonadow stuff. I need to start writing _present_ Zonadow from now on haha!**

**If you enjoyed this chapter, please review before moving on to the next one hehheh.**


	20. Jealousy Game Start! Sonic VS Shadow!

**Thank you everyone for reviews! Hope you guys loved my reply back to you as well!**

**Oh and before I start, I want to say and give hugs.. hugs.. more hugs and thank you Amy Rose 7-Eli la eriza for giving me a small sonadow fanart gift XD I never received fanart gifts before hehheh so it was really special for me! **

**You can go see the link to the picture in my profile since it doesn't let me upload link here... for some reason.. sigh T0T**

* * *

"So Zonic is in the cafeteria right?"

When Shadow skated down to the first floor, he saw his boyfriend talking to another zone cop. The ultimate life form also decided to join the conversation from his curiosity. 'He's probably asking where we can find Zonic.'

"That's the last place I saw him, Sonic prime. He doesn't look too good though," replied the zone cop as he continued to look at his paper work, a little annoyed that he was stopped by Sonic. Sonic frowned a little at the busy zone cop's behavior and thought that is was best to send him away.

"Alright dude. Thanks for the info," Sonic waved a little and even without a slight nod, the cop quickly walked away to do this work around the facility. "Well some people are just plain rude," Sonic muttered with a pout.

"They just had an invasion from three most wanted criminals, Sonic. What do you expect?" said Shadow when he finally reached next to Sonic. "So I overheard the talk. Zonic is in the cafeteria right now?"

"Yeah but that guy also told me that Zonic's not in a good mood," said Sonic as he turned around to face the closed cafeteria door. The black hedgehog thought it might be best to leave the head zone cop alone. It's bad enough that the No Zone facility had to go through some reconstruction mainly because of Mephiles and Zhadow. The head zone cop could really be under a lot of stress at this point.

"Maybe its best if we-"

"Come on, Shadow! Let's go and cheer Zonic up! I'm sure he's just feeling a little down from his work," Sonic interrupted Shadow with his hyperactive tone as usual. The blue hedgehog then dashed through the door, hoping that Zonic would still be in there. Shadow gave himself a gentle face palm and walked into the cafeteria as well.

It wasn't too difficult for Shadow to find them. In fact, Shadow thought it was pretty amusing to see two hedgehogs that looked exactly like one another sitting down on the table that was located in the corner. He saw Sonic with a huge grin on his face while Zonic on the other hand looked completely glum.

'Guess Zonic is in a bad mood,' thought Shadow and walked over to two blue hedgehogs.

"Yo Zonic! Thanks for letting me use your shower room. It felt really great!" said Sonic cheerfully, "Here is the key by the way."

As soon as Sonic said the word "shower room" Zonic couldn't help but to imagine Sonic and Shadow kissing and sharing their love for one another since he heard their whole conversation and a couple of moaning noises outside of his own bathroom. The head zone cop had to admit, he was very happy for Sonic since it was obvious that Shadow and Sonic belonged together but on the other hand, he felt mixture of hatred and jealousy.

The hatred went to Zhadow for calling him a trader while the jealousy went to Sonic. Zonic also developed a small feeling towards Shadow since the black hedgehog was so nice to him. Shadow was able to fill that small emptiness that Zonic felt in his heart a couple of times.

"Hello? Zonic?" Sonic placed his hand in front of the zone cop who quickly came back to reality.

"Hm? Oh, did you need something Sonic prime?" said Zonic with a tired voice.

"Uh… I just said you thank you for the shower and you better take your key before I lose it or something," Sonic placed the key on to Zonic's food table.

"Right. Thanks for returning that," said Zonic. The blue zone cop then went back to stare at his food as various types of information breezed through his head. Zhadow, Sonic, his loads of work and of course, Shadow.

"You're not hungry?" Sonic pointed at the untouched food. There was a plate of pasta, mashed potato, some salad, corn and a small piece of meat that looked like chicken. Sonic rubbed his stomach and realized that he was a little hungry. The last food that he ate was that strange chili dog Shadow made for him. That was already few days ago!

Zonic finally turned his attention at Sonic and gave out a soft laughter. "Sonic prime, if you're hungry just let me know. You can have mine, I'm not really in the mood to eat anyways," said the zone cop. He passed the food on to Sonic and this caused the blue hero to worry a little.

'He didn't even touch his food,' Sonic frowned as he stared at Zonic's meal, 'Is he under that much stress?'

Zonic blinked a couple of times when Sonic didn't sit down to eat. "If the food is cold then you can just go and grab another one. Just tell them you are my guest and they should be happy give whatever you need."

"No that's not the problem, Zonic," Sonic said with a worry.

"He's concerned about your mood," Shadow finished Sonic's sentence and sat down next to Zonic. "What's wrong? You were in a better mood when I saw you before Sonic took his shower."

"H-hi Shadow," Zonic gave a weak smile. "I'm just stressed with work and the previous attack, that's all." But Zonic's mind was still wondering off to something that had nothing to do with the facility's work. 'I'm the one that made an effort to make Shadow and Sonic together. Now that they are together, why do I feel a little…'

"You should take a break once in a while. Especially since you just went through a surgery," said Shadow as he signaled Sonic to sit down as well.

"Yeah man. It even creeps me out when I see you all depressed since we look exactly the same," said Sonic and he carefully took one of the fork and decided to dig into the meal. Sonic felt a little bad for Zonic but the blue hero was also starving. He needed something in this stomach so badly. "Hope you guys don't mind me eating," added Sonic.

"Just don't be sloppy," said Shadow and smiled at Sonic's glare. It was pretty clear to the ultimate life form that the blue hero was kidding around.

"The surgery reminds me, even though you might be feeling better right now, it is still recommended for you to rest at least a day. Too much movement or extraneous usage of your… what is that called, chaos energy?" Zonic looked at Shadow who simply nodded, "Yes, so you can't use too much of that either. I'll try to use my device to locate another chaos emerald so once you are completely healed, I can send you and Sonic prime to another dimension."

"If only I can talk to Tails," said Sonic when he finished devouring the pasta within few seconds, "He's the one who placed chaos emeralds into different worlds. I'm sure he knows the exact dimensional world so you don't have to do too much searching."

"Why don't you make yourself useful and communicate with him then?" asked Shadow.

"I would love to," Sonic stabbed his fork on to the mash potato, "But you see, when I nearly drowned in the water, my communicating machine kinda broke as well."

"Sonic prime you almost drowned?!" This was shocking news to Zonic. The head zone cop thought Zhadow kidnapping Sonic was bad enough but placing the blue hero into a near death experience upset Zonic to a high degree.

"Don't worry, a dolphin saved me. I got so lucky there," said Sonic with his mouth filled with mashed potato.

"It takes a lot for Sonic to die, trust me," Shadow agreed and shook his head at the image of frozen Sonic once more. "But be more careful next time."

"Awww the ultimate life form caring for me, how sweet," said Sonic as he remembered his and Shadow's plan about keeping their relationship secret for Zonic's sake.

"Once the computer starts to work properly, I can connect to your world, Sonic prime. Maybe you can have a little conversation with your friends back home and ask this person name Tails for the information regarding dimensional worlds and chaos emeralds?"

"Zonic you would do that?!" Sonic jumped up from his seat when he heard the happy news. Finally he would be able to talk with Knuckles and Tails again! Not to mention in a big computer screen! "Thanks so much buddy! I have to make it up to you for helping me and Shadow!"

"It's my pleasure to always help you Sonic prime," commented Zonic as he shifted his attention to the black hedgehog, "You too, Shadow."

"Let me know when you need assistance as well, Zonic," Shadow smiled and this melted Zonic's heart instantly. Sonic was a little feeling uncomfortable but tried to keep his cool in front of Zonic.

"Wait, if Zonic has the yellow chaos emerald that Sonic and I found," Shadow gave Sonic a serious look, "Where is the purple chaos emerald that I gave you before I fainted, Sonic?"

Sonic opened his mouth but no words came out. The blue hedgehog rubbed his back quills a little as he motioned his hands in a defensive position.

Sonic knew where the purple chaos emerald.

He left it back at the battle field and forgot to pick it up since Sonic was too distracted with his darker self and also for Shadow's health condition.

"W-well… a funny story, Shadow… hehheh," Sonic shrugged his shoulder and suddenly saw Shadow standing up from the cafeteria chair, "Gyah! Shadow, buddy wait! Just hear me out before you kill me!" Sonic forced a smile as he felt his body shivering a little.

'Boy friend or not, Shadow is still scary when he's angry,' Sonic noted to himself before he explained why he accidently left their purple chaos emerald.

* * *

**(Summary: Mephiles has sudden interest in Dark Sonic's energy. And Mephiles' plan is revealed here as well)**

Meanwhile, Zhadow, Mephiles and Scourge was already long gone with both red and purple chaos emeralds. The three villains returned back to Space Colony Ark located in No Zone and thought about their next move.

"Hey, these babies are returning back to their original colors!" smirked Scourge as he touched both red and purple chaos emeralds.

"Hmm, so you are telling me that Sonic suddenly gained a dark energy that you never sense before?" Mephiles asked Zhadow who was still recovering from his previous injury from Dark Sonic.

"Sonic prim suddenly started to absorb energies from chaos emeralds and soon enough his appearance and not to mention his personality changed completely," said Zhadow. The incomplete life form then reached into one of the medical cabinet where his creator used to keep various types of medicine.

"Hmmm, a dark energy huh?" Mephiles observed his own hands and slowly clenched it tightly. "If he was able to do such a huge damage on you, then perhaps Sonic's dark power could become quite useful."

"Aren't you already receiving enough power from… what's his name… oh yeah Black Doom?" Scourge placed two emeralds back and came next to Mephiles. "Just how much craving for power do you need?"

"I use to possess great unspeakable power. Ever since Solaris was destroyed, I became a lot weaker and sadly, the chaos power that Black Doom provides me is not enough. It is not nearly as the power I used to have," said Mephiles in a stern voice that scared the green hedgehog a little.

"So you want to have Sonic's weird… freaky dark power and Black Doom's power combined?" Scourge rolled his eyes a little. 'This guys is seriously addicted to power,' thought the green hedgehog.

"That's exactly what I plan to do. Once I bring Black Doom five chaos emeralds in order for him to re-build his army, he would grant me his complete chaos power in exchange."

"So after you receive your part of the payment from Black Doom, you want to get Sonic prime's dark energy as well?" Zhadow winced a little when he poured the alcohol on to his ripped opened skin.

"Just imagine how much power I can finally possess. I will surely surpass both Shadow and Black Doom's power," Mephiles laughed with a sadistic grin. "Not to mention, Black Doom told me an interesting story about how he wants to have a sweet revenge on Shadow as well. I will pretend to work with Black Doom when I'm getting my revenge on Shadow and when I'm satisfied with Shadow's torment, I'll overthrow Black Doom and steal his army for my own."

"Woah there! You sure are aiming big," said Scourge finally getting interested at Mephiles' complex plain, "So first you're going to get Black Doom and Sonic's power, then lie to Black Doom that you want to work with him since you guys want to beat the hell out of Shadow and then betray that alien guy to steal his army? Sounds like a long way to go. I like this little evil plot though."

"Perfect plan always takes a long progress," said Mephiles as he turned his attention to Zhadow who finished treating his severe wounds. "And when I receive my full power, I shall grant your wish as well Zhadow. You wanted me to turn you into an ultimate life form and crush Zonic for what he did to you… am I correct?"

"Don't you think this could be getting a little out of control?" Zhadow tried to reason. Even the incomplete life form knew that the road Mephiles took was pretty serious, "What exactly do you plan to do with Shadow? What will happen to Sonic prime when you forcefully suck out his energy? And…" the ex-zone cop thought about Zonic resting in bed, "I wanted to take my revenge on Zonic but I don't want to hurt to too much…" Zhadow bit his lips.

"Zhadow, don't you remember what that betraying zone cop did to you?!" Mephiles raised his voice and gently tapped a small button that was under his limiter that resembled Shadow's. "Zonic almost killed you in this place. He killed your family of scientist, murdered your human friend Maria and tried to destroy Space Colony Ark as well. Do you think that's unforgivable?"

When Zhadow fell on to his knee with a massive headache flowing in, Scourge noticed a strange pattern that occurred between Zhadow and Mephiles.

'When that guy presses something, Zhadow always have a headache.' The green hedgehog noted to himself.

* * *

**Back to Sonic, Zonic and Shadow**

**Back to Sonic, Zonic and Shadow**

**Back to Sonic, Zonic and Shadow**

"So let me get this straight, you accidently left our chaos emerald because you were too occupied with my safety?" Shadow sighed a little and tried to meet Sonic's eyes but the blue hedgehog refused to do so.

"D-don't forget! I was also not acting like myself, remember?" Sonic emphasized, "You know, me having dark quills, not a good sign. I tend to not think logically…" said Sonic.

"Clearly you were not thinking," said Shadow to make Sonic feel a little bad. The black hedgehog was disappointed that they lost another chaos emerald to Mephiles and Zhadow. At this rate, Shadow feared that Mephiles would be able to collect enough emeralds to do whatever evil plan he had in mind.

"Look Shadow, I said I'm sorry!" Sonic fought back, "It's not my fault that I went all psychotic and forgot about the emerald. My mind was only… only focused on you, pal," Sonic said in a sheepish voice and the blue hedgehog had his ears flat down. Now that Sonic thought about it, he would be pretty mad at Shadow if the ultimate life form were to tell him that he accidently left the chaos emerald so their enemy could take it.

Shadow analyzed Sonic's every movement, including the blue blur's tone of voice. 'I have to stop letting my anger get to me before I speak,' Shadow mentally slapped himself, 'It's not like Sonic did this on purpose.'

Zonic thought it was a little awkward being right in the center of Sonic and Shadow's argument. The zone cop took Sonic's empty food plate and decided to throw it away in the furthest trash can so they can have their little private moment to make things better.

"I'll throw this away from you, Sonic prime," said Zonic as he stood up from the cafeteria table. As soon as Zonic headed to the far trash can in the dark corner, Shadow quickly grabbed firmly onto Sonic's arm and pulled him close.

"Woah… Shadow! What are you-"

Sonic expected a hard smack his head from the ultimate life form for losing the purple chaos emerald, but instead, the blue hedgehog felt small tender kiss on his lips. Sonic blinked twice and stared at Shadow with a huge perplexed expression.

"I'm assuming that I was on your priority than the chaos emerald," Shadow smirked, "How thoughtful, Sonic. We'll just have to make sure we get our hands on the next chaos emerald that we find," Shadow whispered into Sonic's ear. The blue hedgehog could feel his face heating up as he shivered a little at Shadow's warm breath entering his ears.

"And who's the one that says let's keep this private?" Sonic joked while Shadow released him with a nudge.

"Hmph, no one is at this cafeteria and Zonic is away for a few seconds. I think it's private," Shadow purred and gently stroked Sonic's arm before he placed himself a little further away from Sonic. The ultimate life form was still weary of Zonic's presence.

"Speaking of Zonic, we should do something do take his mind off! I'm pretty sure he's in a gloomy mood because of all the work he has to do around this place." Of course there was no way Sonic would know that Zonic's stress was coming not just from the work but also from his love conflict.

"Sonic, I appreciate your effort to cheer Zonic but don't you think you're taking this too far? I'm pretty sure he has works to do."

"Well, he can just give his work to somebody else in this place," Sonic just brushed it off easily, "Shadow think about it. There are thousands of zone cops in this building. I'm sure there will be few zone cops that can take Zonic's work for one measly day."

"What do you mean few zone cops can take my work for a day?" Zonic came back and managed to overhear what Sonic said so Shadow.

"Hey Zonic, why don't you just dump your work to somebody else and hang out with me and Shadow today?" Sonic blurted out his question. Zonic tilted his head and tried to figure out what Sonic meant. Shadow thought it was a bad idea so he tapped his boyfriend to cancel the plan but Sonic just had to continue.

"I mean, you and Shadow had some medical surgeries so I can't go and hunt for the next emerald until tomorrow. Unless Shadow wants me to go alone," Sonic shot a playful glance to the black hedgehog who returned look that had something along the lines of, 'Don't you even dare.'

"Uh… I don't follow Sonic…" Zonic trailed off.

"We have to wait for your computer to work to locate the next emerald and I have to wait a day for Shadow and you to make a full recovery. Anyways so why not use this day as a… uh…. small break day, you know?" said Sonic and looked at both Zonic and Shadow.

"Sonic prime, that's really sweet but-"

"Dude, you were looking all miserable in front of a delicious lunch plate. You need to have a serious mood lifting day," Sonic insisted. The blue hedgehog looked around the cafeteria and in just a perfect timing, an intern zone cop entered the cafeteria to grab some food. Our blue hero dashed to the intern and placed his arm around his shoulder.

"Hey… uh… Zonic is having a lot of stress from his work so Shadow and I plan to take him out for some fresh air. You think you can take some of his workloads off from him?" Sonic asked nicely with a small grin on his face.

The intern quickly ran to Zonic and said, "Sir, is that true? You're going to take the afternoon off today?"

"W-well…." Zonic thought about the schedule and the amount of tasks that he had for today. The ultimate life form also thought about what Sonic said and Shadow also agreed to some level. Zonic did look a lot more glum than before and since Shadow and Sonic needed to stay in No Zone until tomorrow's emerald hunt, why not spend some quality time to make Zonic happy.

"Your Boss needs to have some break from his busy schedule. Is that a problem?" Shadow asked the intern who shook his head violently.

"No, no sir! I mean Shadow. No Shadow, of course not!" shouted the intern zone cop. For a few second, he thought Shadow was Zhadow and the intern shook in fear. It's bad enough that both black hedgehogs looked the same but they practically sounded the same too.

"Good, then Sonic and I will take Zonic out for today. Not a problem, right?" Shadow asked again while he raised his voice a little. Zonic looked back at his intern and thought that the whole situation was adorable.

'I remember when Zhadow used to do this to get me a free day,' Zonic chuckled inwardly.

"Yes! I shall distribute our Boss' work to other workers today, sir! I hope you will have a wonderful day, Boss," said the intern as he turned to his head zone cop.

"Woo Hoo! Alright! Thanks pal! So Zonic, now all you have to do is agree to our little get together day," Sonic kept nudging Zonic's right arm and gave him a wink. "Come on! Maybe you can show us some part around No Zone!"

"….." Zonic remained silent while he touched his gloved hands. Shadow was afraid that Sonic might have gone overboard and messed up Zonic's schedule. But few seconds later, a soft laughter flowed through the empty cafeteria room and the voice belonged to none other than Zonic.

"Sonic prime, you are acting like a child," Zonic continued to laughed and the one who was most surprised was the intern. Ever since Zhadow left his duty as a zone cop, it was nearly impossible to hear Zonic's laughter. Until today that is. "Alright, I'll join you and Shadow for today."

"So there you are Sonic! I've been looking all over for you!" Amy turned around and said thank you another zone cop who gave her the information. "Thanks for telling me where my Sonic is!"

The three hedgehogs were equally shocked when they saw Amy skipping her way to their table. Amy smiled warmly as she grabbed onto Sonic's arm.

"I heard that you guys are going to hang out today, Sonic. Can I come too? Maybe this can be like our friendly date! It's been a while since we had one anyways."

As soon as Shadow heard the word "date" escape Amy's lips, the ultimate life form couldn't help but to pull Sonic away from her. When Amy gave a confused and also shocked expression on her face, Shadow completely ignored her and whispered to the blue hedgehog.

"Go and tell her that she can't come," Shadow stated firmly.

"Hehheh, feeling a little jealous?" Sonic narrowed his eyes to tease his secret boyfriend.

"Go and tell her that she can't come, _now,_" Shadow repeated and Sonic just sighed as he pulled himself away from Shadow and walked to his friend. The blue hedgehog placed his arm around Amy and spoke to her in a low voice. Shadow tapped his foot impatiently and waited for the blue hedgehog to finish telling his friend off. There were many excuses that Sonic could use in order to keep Amy off such as a Guy's Night. After few minutes of talking between Sonic and Amy, the pink hedgehog squealed in joy and hugged Sonic.

"This can't be good," Shadow muttered, not really wanting to have Amy come along because he couldn't stand to see her clinging on to his Sonic.

The ultimate life form thought Amy was a tad bit annoying even before he started to date Sonic. But now, Shadow didn't know how low his tolerance level against Amy Rose would be. From all the female friends that Shadow met so far, he thought Rouge was in fact the best. Someone who is an independent woman that doesn't whine Also Shadow personally didn't enjoy girls who have high voice tone as well.

"You told her that she can come?!" Shadow hissed under his breath while Sonic waved his hands to calm the ultimate life form. Sonic also turned around to see if Amy heard this but thank heavens, the pink hedgehog was looking at the menus in the corner of the cafeteria.

"I-I couldn't really say no to her!" Sonic felt a little sweat drop, "Honest Shadow! She's still my friend and I do care for her you know, heh…heh..."

Zonic just continued to stand between Shadow and Sonic while Amy tried to understand the converstation between them from far away. Zonic recalled Sonic saying along time lines of wanting to cheer him up. 'Did my face expression look that depressing?' Zonic exhaled deeply and felt sorry for burdening Shadow and Sonic.

"Ha... fine have it your way, Faker" Shadow muttered and Sonic frowned a little. The blue hedgehog knew that if Shadow called him Faker, then it was a clear indication that Shadow was strictly angry at this point.

"Yay! So I can come along with you right Sonic?" Amy came back running to her self-proclaimed boyfriend once she noticed that Sonic and Shadow's conversation seemed to have subsided. The pink hedgehog clapped her hands and quickly wrapped her arms around Sonic. Sonic tried to give out his best smile but it was a little hard since he was aware of Shadow's death glare. Since Sonic and Shadow were in a secret relationship, Sonic knew that those death stares were meant for Amy. Then Sonic was scared that Shadow was going to attack the pink hedgehog when she placed a small kiss on Sonic's cheek. "Thank you so much Sonic! This is going to be like a little date!"

Shadow expected Sonic to say something back that would disappoint Amy a little, for example, strongly denying that this is not a date. But the blue hedgehog decided to go along with what his friend said. After all, even if Sonic didn't enjoy Amy's company sometimes, she was still a close friend that Sonic cared about.

"Sure thing, Amy. It's been a while since I had a little fun with you anyways," said Sonic and turned his attention to Zonic. "Don't worry Zonic," Sonic waved his hand cooly, "One day of hanging out is not going to mess up your whole plan."

"Actually Sonic prime, it kind of does..." Zonic muttered to himself but the blue hero failed to catch this sentence.

"What was that?" asked Sonic.

"Nothing," said Zonic as he signaled the others to the exit so they can start their so called hang out day.

"This is great Sonic!" screamed Amy and gave the blue hedgehog a huge hug from behind, "I'm so glad you are allowing me to come! This would have been a perfect date if those two weren't here but it doesn't matter as long as I have you all to myself!"

Shadow tried to keep a cool face but it was very, (I mean extremely) difficult even for the ultimate life form when he could see the pink hedgehog literally glomping all over his Sonic. Even though 24 hours didn't really pass ever since he and Sonic decided to enter a romantic boundary of their relationship, Shadow still felt as if he already dated Sonic for weeks. That's how close he felt with the cocky hedgehog.

"Woah there Amy, if you keep this up, I might not be able to walk straight!" Sonic laughed along with her and this caused Amy to snuggle more closely to Sonic.

So the fact that Sonic also agreed to play along with Amy pissed the black hedgehog until he literally felt a small vein forming on the side of his forehead. Shadow knew that Sonic was just being nice to his friend so it shouldn't really bother him... right?

That was how Shadow thought until he saw Sonic giving him a small glance with a mischievous grin on his face.

'Is.. is Sonic teasing me on purpose?' Shadow blinked a couple of times and continued to keep his eyes on to Sonic. The blue hedgehog knew that he was being watched. He looked at Shadow and stuck out his tongue like a small child bragging about something.

'This is how I felt when you talked with Zonic,' Sonic thought to himself as he recalled about few days back when that incident happened where Shadow talked to Zonic while Sonic was left behind. (Early chapter, remember when Sonic felt left behind when Shadow went over to talk to Zonic? XD) The blue hero knew that Shadow didn't do this on purpose, unlike what Sonic was doing which was totally on purpose, but it still hurt Sonic to a small degree. Sonic just wanted Shadow to have a little taste of envy since that's what Sonic's been feeling every time when Shadow and Zonic were together especially without him.

'He _is_ doing this just to piss me off,' Shadow concluded when he saw Sonic's tongue sticking out. Of course, Amy didn't realize this since she was busy clinging on to Sonic while Zonic kept his head forward to the exit door. 'Hmph, two can play at this game." Shadow just rolled his eyes and gave a sour look to Sonic. When Zonic was about to open the door, Shadow quickly turned his attention to the head zone cop.

"Shall we go then, Zonic? It's still a little cold outside from the previous rain so you might want to come close to me for warmth," said Shadow and he pulled Zonic closer to his side. The black hedgehog smirked and gently turned around to see Sonic's surprised and not to mention a jealous look. Zonic on the other hand was a little confused at this whole situation. The head zone cop was positive that Shadow and Sonic kissed in the shower and that they confessed their love to each other. He didn't hear anything wrong… right?

"But this hanging out stuff is just for today," said Zonic in a stern voice to make things clear for all three hedgehogs. It's been a while since the head zone cop had a free time and although he enjoyed it, he didn't want this to become his bad habit.

Once four hedgehogs were outside, Zonic looked around No Zone for a few minutes. Amy on the other hand wanted to take advantage of her quality time with Sonic so she wanted to do something that was similar to what dating couples would normally do.

"Why don't we all go and find a place to eat? I'm sure we're all hungry by now right?"

"But Amy didn't you see me back there in the cafeteria? Eating?" Sonic tried to reason since he was actually full at the moment.

"Sonic! Everyone knows that a perfect date starts with a perfect meal. We need to go somewhere romantic or at least a high class restaurant!" yelled the pink hedgehog as she walked a little closer to Zonic and tapped his shoulder.

"?" Zonic looked down to Amy with no expression on his face.

"So do you know anywhere that is very fancy and a perfect place for cute couples?" asked Amy and Zonic saw Sonic rolling his eyes.

"Well, I think there were few here that were a walking distance," replied Zonic and tried to locate one of the restaurants he used to go with Zhadow.

"They don't have to be walking distance! Because I know that my Sonic can carry me to anywhere that I want to go. Isn't that right, Sonic?" Amy turned around and winked at Sonic who returned a rather surprised look.

"I.. uh.. of course! Why not," Sonic forced out a smile.

"Well, if you really want to go somewhere further, I can just bring my car while Sonic prime can run there with Amy. Of course, Shadow can also skate his way there." Zonic slowly took out his car key from the yellow belt on his uniform's waist.

"If Sonic can carry the pink hedgehog, then I can carry you too, Zonic," said Shadow as he matched his eyes with the head zone cop while Sonic literally dropped his mouth.

Zonic felt his face feeling a little warmer than usual. 'Why is Shadow keep doing this?' Zonic bit his lips.

The blue hero on the other hand did not enjoy what Shadow said and he nearly exploded when Amy also agreed to the ultimate life form's suggestion.

"Yeah! If Shadow can carry you then you don't need to bring out your car at all! Which saves more quality time and-"

"You know what? Let's just go to the closest food place that we can find!" Sonic raised his voice and interrupted Amy.

"Huh? But Sonic~ Don't you want to carry me to the most romantic place where we can eat?" asked Amy with her hands behind her back.

"I'm surprised myself. I thought you would enjoy running?" Shadow joined and this caused Sonic to be slightly furious.

"I'm just all of the suddenly hungry! Let's just go somewhere walking distance, what do you say Zonic?" said the blue hedgehog. Sonic tapped his shoes and tried to erase the image of Shadow carrying Zonic in a bridal style.

'Like I'm going to let Shadow do that in front of me,' Sonic tried to comfort himself.

Zonic was a little perplexed at Sonic's sudden outburst but he decided to agree with him.

"Well, there is one that is ten minutes-walk from here. It's not the fanciest place in No Zone but it is a pretty decent restaurant."

"Okay then! We'll all just head there!" Sonic quickly took the suggestion and tried to walk next to Shadow so he can have a little chat with his boyfriend. But before he even had the chance to go up to the ultimate life form, Amy swiftly grabbed his gloved hands and pulled the blue hero close to her.

"This is going to be great, right Sonic?" said Amy with her eyes literally sparking with joy.

"Sure… haha this is really going to be great." It took a lot of effort from Sonic to refuse his ears from folding backward in disappointment. 'Fine Shadow. You just gave me a challenge right? I can still make you more jealous!' Sonic gritted his teeth and pulled Amy closer to him.

"Awwww thank you Sonic! I was feeling a little cold too!" Amy screamed in bliss.

'Hmph, this is going to be interesting…' Shadow trailed off. Zonic had a little hint that something was going on between Sonic and Shadow. So he grabbed Shadow by the arm and walked a little faster to have a little talk with him while leaving poor Sonic with Amy. Amy on the other hand thought Zonic was being smart and wanted to give her and Sonic some private time together. A bright smile flashed into Amy's face as she closed her eyes to imagine all the great things that can happen between her and Sonic.

'Maybe if this all goes well, I can finally receive Sonic's first kiss and then I'll persuade him to come back home with me. Shadow will be glad that I'm taking Sonic away from him anyways!' Amy giggled to herself. Sonic felt his heart sinking when he witnessed Zonic and Shadow walking ahead of them. The blue hero wanted to know what they were talking about especially without him,

"...?" Shadow kept his mouth closed even with Zonic's sudden pulling.

"Okay," Zonic whispered when he realized he was slightly far away in hearing distance from the pink and blue hedgehog. "I need to know what is going on between you and Sonic prime."

"What are you talking about?" Shadow was the one that told Sonic not to reveal their relationship in front of Zonic and he tried his best to keep this promise.

"Ha... Shadow I'm not an idiot," Zonic shook his head gently, "I can see that you're trying to flirt with me so Sonic prime would envy this. Why?" The head zone cop said bluntly.

Shadow tried to keep a straight face and wondered how in the world did Zonic catch this so fast? The black hedgehog continued to stare at Zonic. "Zonic, I still don't understand you. It's not like Sonic and I are-"

"I know you guys are dating," Zonic smirked, "Recently that is."

Shadow was speechless and he almost stopped walking if it wasn't for Zonic's hand pulling on to his arm.

"I didn't mean to but I sort of heard you guys in my shower room right before I left." Zonic blushed at the thought of Sonic and Shadow kissing in his shower room and secretly enough, the zone cop was also curious to see how it would feel like for him to kiss Shadow as well. Would it be the same as Zhadow? Then again, even though two black hedgehogs were identical in both characteristic and voice, their personality were not quit the same. So it could be different.

"Why do you look so shock? Was this supposed to be a secret?" Zonic chucked softly and Shadow gave out a low sigh before he finally spoke.

"I suggested Sonic that we should keep it a secret especially from you because... we didn't want to make you more...troubled." The ultimate life form hoped that he selected the correct word that Zonic would understand him. The head zone cop instantly understood what Shadow meant.

"Thanks for your concern, Shadow. But really, seeing you and Sonic prime together is not going to make me depressed, honest." Zonic placed a weak smile that Shadow was a little skeptical on. "What happened between me and Zhadow has nothing to do with your relationship with Sonic prime." This was another lie that Zonic quickly made up. In fact, looking at Shadow and Sonic together was one of the major reason why Zonic was glum back at the cafeteria.

One, Sonic and Shadow strongly reminded Zonic when he was in a relationship with Zhadow. This was painful. Second, Zonic had to admit, he developed a small feeling towards Shadow during the past couple of days.

"Are you sure your going to be alright?" asked Shadow. Although, he didn't really know what to say in front of Zonic at this point.

"Hey the secret is out so don't worry about it. But I'm assuming that you have to keep this quiet from Amy?"

When the ultimate life form heard the pink hedgehog's name, he unknowingly growled and this surprised Zonic a little. The zone cop quickly glanced back at the two hedgehogs behind them. Even to Zonic, they looked like a couple.

"Ah, so you're flirting with me to make Sonic prime jealous?" Zonic narrowed his eyes and a small grin appeared in his face. The blue zone cop thought it was funny to see the serious black hedgehog having a immature side.

"Don't get me wrong. That Faker started first," Shadow muttered, once again using the word Faker instead of Sonic's real name. "He's the one who began the whole teasing game so I thought I should teach him some lesson."

"Hmmmm I see," Zonic replied.

"I apologize if I took advantage of you though," Shadow carefully added when he thought about his previous actions. Back then, Shadow didn't even realize that he was unintentionally flirting with Zonic just to give Sonic a taste of his own medicine. 'It shouldn't have affected him that much. It's not like Zonic has interested in me," thought Shadow as he tried to brush it off.

"Hey love birds!" Sonic yelled and waved his hands from the back. "What are you guys talking about over there?!"

"I don't know the whole story but if you want to make Sonic prime more... jealous, I think I can help you," Zonic turned his head to Shadow. "It would be fun to play a little prank on him anyways."

"Hmph, I like your way of thinking, Zonic," Shadow carefully looked back at Sonic who had an expression of, 'You-Are-So-Dead-Shadow' look on his face. "So you wouldn't mind joining this little game of ours?" said Shadow as he wrapped his arm around Zonic's waist and pulled him closer. Shadow could just image the hilarious look on Sonic's face from the back.

"I'm not always serious you know," said Zonic as he leaned into Shadow's body, "I have a little fun side of my own. Plus, I do love pranks."

"This is going to be a exciting afternoon," smiled Shadow. "That's what that Faker gets for challenging me into this jealous game in the first place."

"A-Amy quick! Let's catch up with them!" The pink hedgehog could hear a hint of panic in Sonic's voice as the blue hedgehog picked up Amy and quickly dashed right next to Shadow. Once Sonic placed Amy down, he nudged Shadow in the arm.

"Hey Shadow, missing someone?" Sonic raised his voice but still tried to keep it friendly since Zonic and Amy were there.

At this point, the blue hero still thought that Zonic didn't know anything about his and Shadow's relationship.

"I figured you wanted to spend some quality time with her," Shadow said with an uninterested voice, referring to Amy.

"Well you can let go of Zonic now since we're here," Sonic gritted his teeth. "This is the place, right Zonic?"

Zonic also thought it was amusing to see Sonic trying to cover up is distressed emotion. "Yes, this is the restaurant I told you about."

"Let's hurry and go inside then!" Amy hopped, "My Sonic said he's really hungry!"

"I did?" Sonic raised one of his eye ridge, "O-Oh yeah. Of course I did."

As four hedgehogs went inside, the only thing that was Zonic's mind was the situation he placed himself between Sonic and Shadow. 'Did I agree just to get Shadow's attention?' The head zone cop asked himself in disbelief. This was going to be a long day not just for Sonic but also for Zonic as well.

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**Please I hope you guys review review and review! and see you soon! **


	21. Envy Makes Love Stronger?

**THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO SAID GOOD LUCK TO MY MIDTERMS! I think it went well for the most part. Now I just have to make sure the average is not too high and that I'm above the average hahaha. **

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"This is going to be great, Sonic!" said Amy and she jumped down to the red sofa, "Come and sit next to me." Amy tapped the empty seat next to her which caused Sonic to let out another sigh.

'This is going to be interesting…' Shadow tried to avoid showing off his grin in front of his boyfriend but it was extremely hard to do so. 'After all, you are the one who started to the little game anyways.'

"What's so funny, Shadow?" Sonic raised his eye ridge and made a huge effort to keep his emotion cool while he sat down next to the pink hedgehog.

"Hmph, can't I smile once in a while?" Shadow returned to his original stoic face expression.

Sonic shrugged his shoulders and closed his eyes, "Well, it's not every day that I see you acting so cheerful."

Shadow could immediate detect two negative signals that Sonic just displayed in front of him. To start off, Sonic's tone was slightly deeper than his usual jovial voice which indicated that Sonic was pretty much pissed off. Shadow managed to find Sonic's change in voice depending on his mood when he and Sonic were once rivals. When Sonic decided to stop playing around and get into his serious mode, his voice went slightly lower.

Second aspect Shadow found was how the blue hero's ears were in a very awkward position. Two blue ears were not straight up but they were not folded back either. It was really somewhere in between which also meant that Sonic was uncomfortable about something. That something probably had to do with the fact that Zonic was sitting next to Shadow and not Sonic himself.

"Don't get too surprise when you see me smile more often today," Shadow rolled his eyes playfully and moved slightly to the left in order to give Zonic some more room.

As soon as Zonic took his seat next to Shadow, Sonic started to tap his foot impatiently as if he was giving a bad warning sign to the zone cop. Even though Zonic and Shadow clearly noticed this aside from Amy, they pretended to ignore Sonic to further stress him more.

"How do you know this place Zonic? Do you come here often?" asked Amy as she placed one of her hand on her cheek to lean a little.

"I don't come here much anymore," Zonic explained, "I used to come here with a... friend but that's in the past now."

"Well that friend must have been pretty special if you guys came here to eat," said Amy. She then picked up one of the menu that was left on the dining table and gave one to Sonic.

"You have another special acquaintance that you can come here frequently if you like," said Shadow with his eyes closed. It was obvious that Shadow was refering to himself. At the same time, the black hedgehog could feel Sonic's emerald eyes glaring at him.

"I'll keep that in mind," Zonic was able to quickly catch Shadow's sentence and comment back on it as well. Sonic's ears twitched in slight frustration and he tried his best to ignore it by looking at different types of food in the menu but none of them caught his attention. It wasn't that the food looked bad, it was more like the blue hero couldn't focus other than the chat that went between Shadow and Zonic.

'I see what you're doing to me, Shadow,' Sonic thought to himself and grinned at the same time, 'You better watch out for it too, pal.'

"So Amy," Sonic turned his attention to the female hedgehog and swiftly wrapped his right arm around her shoulders, "If you like this kind of fancy looking place, I can bring you here more once in a while."

"R-Really Sonic? Awww that's the sweetest thing you said to me in a while! I guess it is true that the lovers miss each other more when they are apart." Amy slightly leaned into Sonic's touch and blushed a little bit more. Sonic didn't really agree about the part where Amy said about the love becoming stronger when couples are apart but one thing for sure, Sonic did miss Amy while he was helping out Shadow's business with Mephiles. The blue hedgehog also missed his other friends back at home which caused him to have a little bit of homesick.

"Well, let me tell ya, I did miss you a lot too," said Sonic and this was not a lie. He really was speaking from the bottom of his heart.

While Sonic and Amy were lost in their little moment, both hedgehogs heard a loud snap sound that was created by Shadow's fingers. The ultimate life form had his eyes narrowed but smiled very subtly when he finally caught Sonic and Amy's attentions.

"Can we order first?" said Shadow as he crossed his arms again. 'He really knows how to play with my temper,' the black hedgehog noted to himself.

"Come on Shadow, can't I have some private moment with Amy here?" Sonic joked and pulled his arm away from her. "Just having some friendly talk here that's all." In the back of Sonic's mind, he saw an image of himself hopping around shouting back at Shadow saying 'Score one for Sonic! Hehhehheh.'

"If you guys are not too hungry, we could just order desserts," Zonic sensed Shadow's anger rising and decided to quickly interfere, "Sonic prime already ate back the cafeteria and I'm not really hungry as well. What about you Shadow?"

"I'm fine with whatever you guys want," Shadow murmured.

"Okay then, dessert is totally great with me too. Then uh... Zonic," Amy was scared that she might have pronounced the head zone cop's name incorrectly, "Why don't you order for all of us? I'm sure you know what is best around here."

Zonic blinked a couple of times and looked at the menu. 'It's been a while since I came here. Not to mention the last time I came here is with that inmate,' the zone cop bit his lips when an image of Zhadow brushed by his memory again.

"I don't want anything too sweet," Shadow quickly commented to Zonic and the blue zone cop nodded.

"Okay then. I better not hear any complaining from you guys later," Zonic said with a little humor but his face still maintained that serious look so it almost made it look like Zonic was well... being serious.

The blue zone cop rang a small bell that was next to him on the white dining table and instantly, one of the raccoon looking species with a maid looking outfit came running.

"And how many I serve- Oh my! I didn't know I would be serving you today, Mr. Zonic."

"Long time no see Sylvia," Zonic waved his hand a little in greeting, "I'm just here because these guys are not letting me work," Zonic rolled his eyes.

"Woah there! It's for your own good and you know it Zonic," Sonic pointed at his counterpart and Amy just laughed at this situation.

"And you must be Sonic prime," Sylvia turned to the blue hedgehog, "Mr. Zonic told me few things about you. I'm surprised that you guys look exactly the same! Not to mention you guys sound the same... except for Mr. Zonic seems to have slightly lower tone in voice if I have to point out."

"That's because this guy is serious about everything," Sonic laughed and surprisingly, Zonic also smiled a little at that last feedback.

"Haha, I see," Sylvia giggled, "So what would you like to order?"

"Just bring us dessert C and E. Oh and also could you bring two large caramel shakes? Make one of them less sweet if that's possible," said Zonic as he closed the menu.

"Okay, I'll bring the shakes right now since we just made them," the maid smiled and returned to the back of the restaurant.

"What's dessert C and E?" asked Sonic but it was Amy who spoke first.

"I hope it's something really sweet Sonic," Amy giggled and Sonic decided to take this chance to say something back to Amy.

"Heh, well it can't be sweet as you Amy," Sonic gave a quick wink at the pink hedgehog. Amy turned away from Sonic with both of her hands touching her cheeks to cover the blushing.

"Stop saying so many cute things to me Sonic! You're making me blush all over again!"

'I just hope Amy doesn't think I'm being weird by saying all these nice things to her,' Sonic scratched his head. He remembered the time when Sonic had to lie to Amy about her looking adorable when she uses her hammer. This caused Amy to swing her hammer more in the hotel they were in. In the end, Sonic and Amy were asked to leave by the staff and the blue hedgehog was very happy to hear that message. 'I remember getting almost killed when Amy found out that it was just a lie.. hehheh. Guess I'll never learn my lesson."

On the other hand, Zonic saw Shadow's hand clutching in to a shaking fist under the table. The zone cop thought this side of Shadow was slightly unexpected but a little cute at the same time.

"And here are the two drinks," said the maid. She placed two straws in one caramel shake and passed it to Amy and Sonic. When she was about to do the same for Zonic and Shadow, she glanced at Shadow for a few seconds and placed only one straw and passed it to two male hedgehogs. "Enjoy!"

"Why did she only give one straw?" Amy asked while she took a sip at the caramel shake.

"Ah... she must have thought that Shadow was Zhadow," Zonic face palmed himself and shook his head. "Let me call her back and-"

"Don't waste her time, it's no big deal," said Shadow and he reached out to take the shake with only one straw on it. The black hedgehog had a long sip before opening his mouth and licked his lips before passing the drink on to Zonic. "I don't mind sharing. Do you?"

Sonic automatically had his mouth slightly opened in shock as his emerald pupils followed Zonic's hand movement.

"I... guess not," replied the head zone cop as he used the same straw that Shadow just used,understanding where the ultimate life form was going with his plan.

Sonic's eyes went wide open as he tried to think of an excuse. There was no way he was going to let Shadow and Zonic share the same straw! In Sonic's logic, that was almost the same level as kissing but just indirectly of course.

"I could just run across the restaurant and get the extra straw for you," Sonic tried to keep his happy face but inside, he was dying with annoyance.

"It's really fine," said Zonic who sensed Sonic's envy increasing every time when the zone cop took a sip at the straw.

"Shadow you know I'm fast enough to go and bring another one." The blue hero raised his eye ridge as if he was trying to send out hidden message.

"Faker, I don't see why you're making such a big deal," Shadow sighed and made a hand motion to Sonic to sit back down. 'You're easy to please and easy to make jealous,' thought the ultimate life form.

"Aren't you going to drink some Sonic?" Amy gave the large shake to the blue hedgehog, "It's really really really good!"

"I-its okay Amy. I don't really like caramel," Sonic lied and frowned a little.

"Desserts are here!" the maid came back in the right timing, "Here is the Golden Opulence Sundae and Frozen Haute Chocolate in weak chocolate of course."

_(You guys should google these desserts. Their price really are crazy!hehheh)_

"WHAT?! Zonic are you serious?!" Amy screamed as soon as two lovely desserts hit the table. "We have these desserts in our world too! These... These are very expensive! I know that Golden Opulence Sundae is around $1,000 dollars and Frozen Haute Chocolate is at least $3,000 dollars!"

"It's the similar price here," said Zonic in a monotone.

"Dude how are we going to pay for this?" Sonic also perked up a little when he realized the zone cop just ordered the most expensive desserts on the menu. Zonic on the other hand didn't even have a sweat drop unlike the rest of the hedgehogs.

"It's on me you guys, don't worry about it. It really pays off if you are the in high rank of the zone cop duty you know," Zonic picked up two forks and passed it to Sonic and Amy. "A lot of hard work and all nighters here but good rewards in the end."

"Wow, you're amazing Zonic." Amy nodded, "But I'm sorry to say not as amazing as my Sonic though!" Amy softly let out a little fan girl scream.

"You should have the first bite though. It's obvious that this is no ordinary dessert," said Shadow to cut off Amy's rant about how great his Sonic is. Shadow grabbed the silver spoon and dipped it at the golden colored sundae. The black hedgehog then placed his left hand on Zonic's shoulder to keep him still and raised the spoon in front of the zone cop in an attempt to feed him.

Zonic had no idea Shadow had this planned as well. The blue zone cop stuttered a little and debated if it was really okay to continue this process. He then had a flash back when Zhadow did the exact same thing to him. Zonic refused to eat because he was so stressed out with work so Zhadow ended up feeding him until they were done. Zonic felt his face slowly heating up and Sonic on the other hand bit his own tongue to stop himself from screaming.

"Z-Zonic!"

Both Shadow and Zonic turned around at the blue hero who pointed at the floor of the restaurant.

"I, uh, dropped my fork... hehheh. Think you can call Sylvia to get me another one?" Sonic picked up the fork from the ground and placed it on to the table.

"Now how did that happen?" Shadow smirked and pulled the spoon away from Zonic and released him from his grasp. Zonic sighed deeply to himself as his heart continued to beat faster.

"Well by _accident_ of course," Sonic fought back with his narrowed eyes. 'You're good Shadow. Too good, I might just lose my temper for real,' Sonic smirked and tried to calm himself.

"Sylvia," Zonic called the maid, "Bring me ten more forks."

"T-ten?" Sonic tilted his head in confusion.

"I hope you don't plan on dropping them all at once, Faker," Shadow smirked and took a bit of the ice cream that was meant for Zonic.

"Heh, we'll see about that," Sonic challenged back and took a sip at the caramel shake.

"Eh? Sonic I thought you hate caramel?" asked Amy who continued to eat the dessert in front of her.

"It's not as bad as I thought," said Sonic as he kept his eyes onto Shadow specifically. When Sylvia actually brought ten forks, Sonic forcefully let out a chuckle and said thank you to the maid who also laughed a little at the strange scenario.

Amy just shrugged at Sonic's answer and directed her attention to one of the Pocky stick that was used as a decoration on the chocolate dessert. A smile started to creep up onto the pink hedgehog's face when she thought about how great it would be to do a little romantic couple game. She pulled out one of the chocolate covered Pocky and presented it in front of Sonic. When the blue hedgehog didn't do anything special, Amy groaned in irritation and tapped Sonic one more time.

"Don't you want to play this game with me, Sonic?" Amy asked while she took the edge of the Pocky into her mouth.

"What are you talking about?" Sonic clearly had no idea with that confused look on his face.

"The Pocky game!" Amy pulled out the chocolate stick from her mouth. "Oh come on Sonic! Every couples know what kind of game it is!"

"The… what.. Pocky game?" Sonic still had no clue what Amy wanted from him.

'This is just a perfect timing that I needed,' Zonic chuckled and flashed a quick look to Shadow. The black hedgehog knew right away what Zonic wanted to do and decided to follow his plan.

"Sonic prime, even I know what your friend-"

"Girlfriend, Zonic remember?" Amy carefully reminded the zone cop and Shadow gritted his more.

"Anyways," Zonic pretended he didn't hear the last part of Amy's words, "Even I know the game she's referring to. Do you want me to demonstrate?" Zonic narrowed his eyes and took out a new Pocky from the ice cream dessert. The blue hero swallowed hard. He didn't like where this was going at all.

Zonic stared at the Pocky for a few seconds and then place it inside his mouth. The zone cop then made a gentle finger motion for Shadow to come closer. The ultimate lifeform sneered at Sonic before he leaned in to take the bite of the other Pocky's end.

"..!' Sonic felt his cheeks blushing madly as he wanted to jumped between Shadow and Zonic to split them apart.

"Yeah Sonic! That's how you are supposed to do it!" Amy pointed at two male hedgehogs in front of her.

"S-So what's the point of this anyways? It's just sharing a Pocky," Sonic tried to brush the topic.

"That's not the main point," Shadow murmured since he still had the Pocky in his mouth. "This is."

The black hedgehog then started to munch on the edge of the chocolate covered stick. This caught Zonic off guard as Shadow's lips came closer and closer and the size of the Pocky stick decreased.

'I-I didn't know he would go this far,' Zonic's emerald pupils were away from Shadow's ruby colored eyes. 'He's not really planning to…'

At the same time, Amy covered her mouth with both of her hands but it was obvious that there was still some red blush roaming around her face. She thought that Shadow and Zonic's demonstration was filled with too much detail.

'Heh, there is no way Shadow is going to-' Sonic bit his tongue when Shadow's lips were few centimeters away from Zonic's lips. 'That's going to be not cool, Shadow. Your lips are mine!' Sonic shook his head.

Without really thinking, Zonic could feel his eyelids closing as if he was preparing for what Shadow might do to him. The blue hero felt his vein pop on his forehead as he coughed really loudly to gather other people's attention in the restaurant. This caused the black hedgehog to pull away from Zonic. The zone cop on the other hand looked away shyly, a little disappointed that Shadow discontinued.

"Thanks for the demonstration you too," Sonic rolled his eyes, "The game's rule is so drilled into my head and I'll never forget it."

"Now that you know, how about you try it out with me Sonic," Amy snickered and pretended to erase the strange moment that Zonic and Shadow just had. She placed the Pocky into Sonic's mouth and the blue hedgehog then had an idea to get back to Shadow for what he just did with Zonic.

"Amy if you want to receive a little friendly kiss from me," Sonic just ate the whole Pocky while he leaned a little closer to the female hedgehog, "I could just do it without making this a big deal you know."

Sonic didn't want to put too much false hope into Amy because he still liked her as a friend. The blue hedgehog then gave a small peck on Amy's cheek and leaned back quickly before Amy's screaming in joy would damage his ears. Sonic then turned his attention to Shadow and stuck out his tongue for few seconds. The ultimate life form literally felt a massive increase of chaos energy flowing inside him, probably created from anger and envy and wondered if it would be a bad idea to use either chaos spear or chaos blast to wipe that proud look on Sonic's face.

"Why don't we finish this before they all melt," Zonic said coolly as he patted Shadow's back.

As four hedgehogs continued to eat, Amy mainly talked about how she was able to travel into another dimension from Tail's teleporting device (It was explained how she did it in previous chapter). While others were silently listening, Zonic noticed that the surgery pill he took few hours ago finally started to kick in as he felt his muscles relaxing. Few seconds later, Zonic felt a little sleepy and swayed back and forth little from his chair. Sonic and Amy failed to notice this since they were sitting a little further away but this caught the ultimate life form's attention immediately.

Zonic wasn't even paying attention to what he was eating to the point where he had a slight ice cream smudged on the corner of his lips.

'Is he tired?' Shadow thought to himself. 'This doesn't look like acting.'

"Zonic," Shadow whispered but Sonic managed to hear this as well, "Are you feeling alright?"

"W-what?" Zonic's ears shot up as he opened his eyes fully.

"Well for starters, you have a dessert left over... right here," Shadow leaned in closer and wiped the ice cream out from Zonic's lips with his finger.

Zonic knew that he would be lying to himself if he said he didn't enjoy Shadow's attention and not to mention his physical contact.

"Second, you look rather... lethargic," said the black hedgehog as he used his top side of the gloved hand to gently give a nudge at Zonic's cheek. The head zone cop chuckled a little to keep himself distracted. He slowly started to wonder if Shadow was saying this out of concern or if he was just using this to get Sonic's attention even more. 'Maybe helping Shadow to prank Sonic prime wasn't the best offer I made...'

Just then, Zonic, Shadow and Amy jumped as Sonic landed his hand loudly at the table.

"Sonic? What's the matter?" Amy said with a worried look and this caused Shadow and Zonic to pull away from each other. The ultimate life form had that proud look on his face while Zonic was still perplexed from the previous moment.

"I have to use the rest room! The caramel got all sticky in my glove," said Sonic. "W-where is the restroom Zonic?"

"It's in the back of the corner on the left side," Zonic pointed.

Sonic stood up from the table and turned his attention to Shadow, "Don't you need to wash up as well, Shadow?"

"I don't need to do anything," said Shadow.

There was no way Sonic would leave Shadow and Zonic alone. Who knows that could happen between them as long as the blue hero was away from the table.

"Yes, you do!" Sonic yanked Shadow's arm which caused the ultimate life form to stand up from his seat forcefully.

"No I don't-" Shadow looked at his own hand that was now covered with caramel from Sonic's. "Nice going," Shadow hissed under his breath and turned back to Zonic. "I guess I have to follow this guy, Zonic."

'This guy?' Sonic's right ear twitched when he heard how Shadow labeled him.

"Take your time. I have to pay the bill anyways," said Zonic as he stood up from the table. Amy also decided to use the female restroom before they left the restaurant.

As soon as both Shadow and Sonic entered the restroom, the blue hedgehog had his arms crossed as he leaned against the bath room wall. Shadow on the other hand calmly went over the sink and started to wash off the caramel stain.

"Okay dude, what's the deal?" Sonic spoke out first in his serious tone.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Faker," Shadow had his eyes closed to avoid Sonic's glare.

"Stop calling me that! And what do you mean you have to follow 'this guy' huh?" Sonic made a hand quotation mark when he mocked Shadow's words.

"That's exactly what I meant," Shadow opened his eyes again to reach for the soap.

"B-But I thought we are... you know," Sonic had a sheepish expression before he said the last part, "Uh.. going out now?"

"Your point is?"

"Okay even though I never dated anyone, I clearly know for a fact that you don't call your boyfriend 'this guy'. Plus, I can see what you're doing with Zonic, Shadow," Sonic let out a dry laughter and kept his eyes on to Shadow when the black hedgehog was done washing his gloved hands.

"If I have to remind you, Sonic," Shadow finally used the proper title again, "You didn't listen to me when I told you not to bring Amy along with us."

"She's my friend too Shadow! Just because I'm dating you doesn't mean I have to start acting like a jerk to her," Sonic smiled but he felt a small sweat drop forming. The blue hedgehog didn't really enjoy where this was going.

"Fine you have a reason for that. But I clearly saw you trying to make me annoyed on purpose with her," Shadow narrowed his eyes and frowned while he thought about how Sonic made obvious cues to anger Shadow on purpose. Sonic did stuck out his tongue once in a while when Shadow looked at him with Amy and this was done on purpose. "Why did you do it?" Shadow asked again.

"O-oh that. Well.. hehheh there is a funny story about that," Sonic trailed off with his eyes not meeting with his boyfriend's anymore.

"Do humor me with that story of yours," Shadow rolled his eyes. The black hedgehog was interested in why Sonic decided to start up this whole jealousy game in the first place.

"I mean.. you know," Sonic made a hand gesture, "I'm betting my rings that I liked you way before then you started to like me. Like... maybe I started to think that you're not as bad as how I thought you were ever since the invasion of Black Doom incident."

Shadow just kept his mouth quiet as he continued to listen to Sonic's explanation. It was true that Shadow didn't develop any romantic feeling towards Sonic until they started to interact more with each other recently. At first Shadow respected Sonic and started to welcome his effort in becoming friends. The black hedgehog had no idea that this friendship with his old rival would quickly turn into a romantic one at all.

"You had interest in me... even before this Mephiles' business?" Shadow was slightly surprised by this. "Is that why you wanted to tag along with me so badly?"

Sonic placed his hand behind his head to stoke on of the larger quills as a habit when he felt uncomfortable and nodded a little.

"So yeah. I was a little pissed off when you were always with Zonic before we started dating. So now that we're going out and all, I thought it might have been fun to let you know how the jealousy felt like, you know? But honest I didn't know it would get out of control this much, hehheh."

"I still can't believe you had interest in me for that many years," Shadow spoke softly as he walked to Sonic.

"I mean it's not like I could have went up to you and say, hey Shadow! I like you, You wanna go out sometimes?" Sonic laughed again and didn't realize that Shadow was right in front of him.

"And to think that your attractions towards me didn't die out after all those years," Shadow recalled some insults that he made to Sonic which probably would have been a stab to his heart. Shadow understood where Sonic was coming from and decided to forgive him. Well, the black hedgehog was still a little ticked at Sonic for starting jealousy game in the first place but the black hedgehog knew that he couldn't stay mad at him forever.

"Sorry for my actions back there," Shadow murmured quickly and gently kissed Sonic's lips. Sonic felt his back pressing against the wall more as Shadow tried to deepen the kiss. The blue hedgehog was a little confused at the whole situation. They were arguing for a moment and now they were making out? Sonic smiled to himself at their cryptic relationship as he wrapped his arm around Shadow's neck and pulled him closer to feel his warmth. The black hedgehog allowed both of his hands to slide down again Sonic's arms before pulling apart from the short kiss.

"Okay, we have to stop with our make out session in bathrooms," Sonic tried to joke around Shadow as he made an attempt to cover up his blush.

"I'll keep that in mind. A great hero like yourself deserve his kiss in a more high class environment," Shadow rolled his eyes but continued to smile a little.

"Hehhe, don't tell me you like kissing in bathrooms," Sonic frowned and came a little forward to kiss Shadow again but his blue ears picked up a small door opening sound that came few feet away from him. Sonic felt his heart pounding in worry but soon realized that it couldn't be Amy because they were on a male restroom. 'Don't tell me it's Zonic,' Sonic prayed to whatever that was above.

"Is kissing in the bathroom your habit now, Shadow?" Zonic carefully opened the bathroom door and saw Sonic's face blushing in dark shades of red, "I feel sorry for you Sonic prime. First kiss in my shower room and second kiss in public restroom?" Zonic let out a simple laughter but something stung in his heart.

"Z-Zonic! Wait I can explain!" Sonic tried to push Shadow as far away from him as possible but Shadow didn't even move a single muscle. "Shadow! Get away from me!"

"Don't worry Sonic prime. I already knew you and Shadow were in a relationship. Right, Shadow?" said Zonic with tired looking eyes.

"Zonic is also the one who agreed with me to play along in order to make you jealous," replied Shadow. Sonic looked back and Zonic, then at Shadow... back at Zonic and again back at Shadow.

"WHAT?!" Sonic screamed and this time, the black hedgehog stepped away to give his boyfriend some room. "But Shadow, what happened to keeping this a scret to Zonic, huh?" Sonic felt a little betrayed. After all, it was Shadow's suggestion to keep their relationship a secret in order to help Zonic not think about his own past relationship with Zhadow.

"Sonic prime, Shadow didn't spill the bean. I just happen to hear you guys... you know, doing stuff in my shower room," Zonic stuttered a little and turned his head to the side. He had to admit, he was upset to see Shadow acting protective when it comes to Sonic. Zonic took a deep sigh and the ultimate lifeform thought something was off with the zone cop.

"So... Shadow didn't tell you right? You just figured it out by youself?" Sonic asked again and the head zone cop just nodded. "Are you okay with... seeing us together? I mean, I know that you used to be together with-"

"It's fine. Your relationship has nothing to do with my own," Zonic said and tried to avoid Shadow's eyes. "Come on, let's head out. Amy is waiting or you guys."

The blue hero felt a little weird and even he was able to sense that Zonic was acting strangely. He decided to put that aside since he didn't want to make Amy wait so long by herself.

"Ah-ha! So I did win this round after all!" yelled Sonic in order to lift the bizzare mood that was running between the three of them.

"What do you mean?" asked Shadow with a hint of interest.

"I made you say sorry to me first! Haha I knew you couldn't resist my- Ow! Shadow what did you do that for?" Sonic rubbed his forehead that was hit by Shadow's fist.

"That's for acting immature. You're lucky that we're in a relationship or that hit could have been worse," Shadow sighed and pushed Sonic gently to the side so he could exit.

"Eh, you should be lucky that I can tolerate your temper," Sonic just grinned and grabbed Zonic's arm. "Come on, Zonic. Let's go."

"Sonic prime?" Zonic quietly called out to his original counter part.

"Hm? What is it, buddy?" Sonic turned aroud,

"You must be lucky to have Shadow by your side," Zonic whispered and Sonic didn't know why but he felt a little sorry for Zonic. The blue hero knew that even though the zone cop said watching him and Shadow being togehter doens't bother him, it was probably a lie that Zonic made.

"Listen Zonic," Sonic stopped walking and grabbed Zonic's shoulder with his two hands. "I'm sorry I acted like a child when you and Shadow were together talking about who knows what. Just like what Shadow said, I could be immature, hehheh. But" Sonic raised his index finger, "I'm going to make it up to you. I'm going to help you capture Zhadow. Then maybe you can ask him why he suddenly decided to leave you."

"Sonic prime, I don't recall me telling you about me and Zhadow in particular," Zonic frowned a little.

"Shadow told me," Sonic simply answered and pulled Zonic to where Shadow and Amy were.

'Shadow huh...' Zonic thought to himself. The thought about not being able to have Shadow like him did made him upset. On the other hand, Zonic was still confused if he truely had a feeling for Shadow or if it was because Shadow reminded Zonic a lot about Zhadow.

* * *

**Chao~ And happy valentine's day! **


	22. Pole Dancing in Sonic Style!

**Thank you everyone for your lovely interest and support as always! (I will send the thank you message today!)**

**A lot of people really wanted to read this chapter fast haha**

* * *

Sonic slowly opened his eyes and reached out his right arm to see if Shadow was sleeping next to him.  
After the whole hang out date with Sonic, Zonic and Amy, Shadow suggested if they should go back to the zone cop facility since Zonic looked more tired than usual. At first the hero was slightly worried but when Zonic told him that it was just a side-effect from the medication that he had to take after the surgery, Sonic let out a sigh of relief.  
Of course as soon as Zonic came back, he planned to work a little but Sonic insisted that he should just take the reminder of the day off resting in his room. Then, Sonic and Shadow decided to walk around No Zone to observe strange looking building structures and to talk about various things. Sonic thought it was interesting to see circular looking buildings and oval shaped departments while Shadow wasn't too amused. Amy on the other hand was looking for Sonic inside the zone cop facility.

That's how the whole day was spent.

When the sun went down, Amy asked Sonic if she could share the bed with him since she was scared. Sonic thought Shadow would get pissed off but the black hedgehog nonchalantly nodded and said that he didn't mind sleeping on the floor with the pillow and blanket that was provided by Zonic. Amy quickly thanked the ultimate life form while Sonic was slightly disappointed that he couldn't sleep with his boyfriend.

While Amy was deep into her dream world, Sonic managed to unwrap himself from her bear hug and went down to the floor from the bed to join Shadow. The black hedgehog pretended to be asleep when Sonic snuggled next to him. Shadow thought Sonic's action was pretty funny and a small smile formed on his lips before falling asleep.

"Where did Shadow go?" Sonic whispered to himself as bright light blinded his eyes, "Gyah... it's been a while since I was greeted by a morning sun light because of zone traveling."

Sonic checked the bed to make sure that his friend was still asleep before leaving the guest room to find Shadow.  
'That was a pretty good sleep though,' Sonic thought to himself as he yawned some more.

Unlike humans, Sonic and some of his friends were able to go through daily activities without sleeping for couple of days. He would start to feel tired after not sleeping for about three to four days. Sonic's body function was just different from humans. (I mean look at him! He can still run in the speed of light by eating little as few chili dogs and you don't see him sleeping around in the game that often XD Something that we humans certainly do not have hehheh)

As the blue hedgehog looked around, few zone cops passed by him, giving Sonic a simple "hello" or "good morning". The hero also greeted them with friendly grin on his face until he heard a voice that belonged to Shadow. Sonic's left ear pointed to one of the door where the sound came from. Few seconds later, he heard Zonic's voice as well. The blue hedgehog quickly dashed to the door and opened it without any hesitation.

"Sup guys!" Sonic waved his hand as he closed the door behind him, "Am I interrupting anything?" Sonic had to admit, he felt a little proud at himself for not feeling any jealousy when he found Shadow and Zonic together in one room. After yesterday's incident, Sonic decided to be nicer to Zonic and trust Shadow a little more when it comes to their relationship.

"Morning Sonic prime," said Zonic and he pointed to the computer screen. "Shadow just helped me to set up the main computer that can connect with your world."

"I couldn't sleep too long since you were snoring right next to my ear," Shadow rolled his eyes and Sonic just laughed at the comment.

"Awww, sorry about that buddy. I guess I was pretty tired," Sonic shrugged his shoulder. "I didn't even know you were good at computer stuff."

"There is a lot of things that you don't know about me," Shadow turned his attention back to the computer screen and punched in some numeric codes.

"I know that you love me so that's one thing I know about you," Sonic rubbed his nose and he could see Shadow's ear twitching in embarrassment.

"Will you keep your personal thoughts to yourself?" Shadow tried his best to hide the flushed face especially from Sonic.

"Eh... nope. It's not going to happen any time soon," Sonic grinned. The ultimate life form just let out a small growl in frustration before the computer started to load itself to the main page.

"I think the computer should work now." Shadow wanted to change the topic, "You can try to connect with our world."  
Zonic walked up to the computer that Shadow just fixed and scanned one of his ID card. When the computer asked for destination of the dimensional world, the zone cop typed in a pattern of numbers that was supposed to represent Sonic's world and specifically to Tail's main computer.

"I'm going to try to hook up with Sonic prime's friend, Tails," said Zonic. "I just hope your friend is near the computer that I'm trying to access right now."

"Ah don't worry about it," Sonic waved it off, "Tails should be off from the hospital right now and he usually spends most of his time using the computer to search stuff."

After a few loading page, an image of Tail's workshop appeared in the screen and Shadow could see Sonic's excitement.

_'He really must miss his home,'_ Shadow noted to himself.

"It looks like nobody is home." Zonic's emerald eyes searched through the computer screen.

"Hey Tails! Are you there?" Sonic yelled and hoped that his voice would catch Tails' attention. "Come on! You don't usually leave your workshop! Unless, what time is it in my world right now, Zonic?"

"Should be around 2pm." The head zone cop answered right away.

"Okay, you never leave your workshop in the afternoon!"

"Sonic?"

Sonic's blue ears perked up when he heard a faint voice from the computer screen. But the hero didn't see Tails in the screen at all.

"Tails! Yeah, it's me the one and only! Go to one of your main computer, you should be able to see me," Sonic sounded very eager to see the face of his best friend after who knows how long the blue hedgehog was away from his world.  
Few seconds later, Tails appeared right in front of Zonic's large computer screen.

"Sonic!" Tails jumped back for a moment as his two tails moved up and down in joy, "I.. I can't believe it's really you!"

"Yo Tails!" Sonic's lips made a huge grin while his eyes shined in happiness, "It's been so long, I miss you, pal!"

"I still can't believe I'm really talking to you. Do you know how worried Knuckles and I were?"

"Hehheh, sorry Tails. But you know how I live my life. Always looking for adventures," Sonic gave a thumb up to let his fox friend know that he was doing okay. "I see you're looking better. You have no idea how worried I was when I heard that you were in a hospital."

"Haha well, I have to say the same thing to you Sonic. What happened to the transmitter watch? When my tracking device lost the signal from you, I was so scared that something might have happened to you," Tails frowned a little and Sonic felt a little bad that he couldn't contact his best friend a little sooner.

Sonic didn't plan on telling how his watch communicator broke because it would involve telling Tails the story of him nearly drowning and freezing to death because of Zhadow's kidnap.

"I kind of dropped it while traveling into different zone," Sonic quickly answered. "Speaking of zone, you remember Zonic right? He helped me to connect with you. Not to mention Shadow is here as well!" Sonic gave a hand motion for Zonic and Shadow to come closer to the computer screen.

"Hello Zonic and Shadow," said Tails when both hedgehogs appeared in his screen. "Thank you to both of you for taking care of Sonic."

"He can cause problems but other than that, it's okay." Shadow looked at Sonic with a teasing look and Sonic stuck out his tongue.

"I don't cause problem. I fix problems!"

"Yeah whatever," Shadow chuckled and this surprised Tails a little.

"Sounds like you guys are getting along well," said Tails as he observed Shadow and Sonic. "Where is Amy? I still can't believe she managed to leap into your zone! It was really dangerous of her to just jump into the portal device like that! I mean, she smashed it a few times before magically having that machine work for like... a brief seconds."

"Well you know Amy, a bold girl if you ask me." Sonic scratched his ear, "Is the portal device still broken then?"

"Yeah, it's still completely busted. Knuckles is coming by later to help me fix it again."

"That's cool say hi to Knuckles for me," Sonic glanced at Shadow and he could tell right away that the black hedgehog was becoming a little impatient.

The main point of them contacting Tails was to ask where the next emerald was at. Sonic decided to have a chat time with his friend later when they completed their task.

"Sorry Tails but we're kind of in a rush. We think Mephiles has a lot of chaos emerald at this point so it's important that we get the next one faster than him. Do you know what dimension we placed the green chaos emerald in?"

"Of course," Tails went back to his memory and thought about what dimensional world they threw away the green chaos emerald in. "It was the Night Carnival Zone. We went there once with help from Zonic when we had to stop Eggman when he figured out a way to open that dimensional portal, remember?"

"I also remember that," said Zonic. That was actually the very first time when he met Sonic prime. "I would have arrested Sonic prime if he didn't have a good reason for leaping into different zones," Zonic smirked.

"Good thing I wasn't arrested because of trying to stop Eggman," laughed Sonic.

"So we have to search that carnival zone place?" Shadow finally spoke after a long silence.

"Yes and sorry if I can't specifically point out the location of the emerald. Apparently, I can't do that if the emerald is in another zone.. too much interference with something..." Tails trailed off.

"Don't worry buddy. The fact that you know it was in Carnival Zone is good enough for us. It saved Zonic a lot of time not searching for different zones. Right Zonic?"

"Sonic prime is right. Thank you for your help, Tails."

"I can probably sense the emerald when we get there so it wouldn't be too much a problem," the ultimate life form agreed.

"Hey, I can sense emerald too you know." Sonic argued back while playfully tapping his foot.

"But I can do it better," said Shadow, "And before you say anything. Yes, it's because I'm the ultimate."  
Sonic quickly closed his mouth and was also surprised that the black hedgehog knew what he was going to say.

"I'll talk to you right after we get that green emerald, Tails." Sonic winked at Tails so he wouldn't worry too much about him.

"Just be careful, Sonic. Oh and you too Shadow and Zonic," said Tails. "I'm going to meet up with Knuckles and give him the fillers. I'll talk to you guys later!"

With that, the connection was lost between No Zone and Sonic's world. The hero was glad to know that Tails was doing alright and he was really happy to see the cheerful fox again.

"Okay, time to be serious!" Sonic brought himself to the reality, "Let's go and get that emerald before Mephiles does it first!"

"I'm coming with you guys too," said Zonic as he placed his zone cop helmet on that had the backside open so his blue quills were shown, "If Zhadow is working with Mephiles then there is a high chance that he might be there as well."

"Okay Zonic. You might know more about the Carnival Zone anyways since you are the zone cop and all," Sonic smiled and looked at the ultimate life form "Let's go before Shadow loses his patience and no pushing this time!" said Sonic when he recalled the first time when he and Shadow traveled into the Halloween themed zone. Shadow pushed him from the back and this surprised Sonic a lot.

"You should have seen the look on his face, Zonic," said Shadow as he grinned subtly.

Zonic just laughed at the whole situation before pulling out his dimensional gun from the yellow belt that on was on red uniform. The zone cop positioned his gun and in one shot, a large blue colored portal opened.

"After you," Shadow gave a formal hand gesture to Sonic.

"Okay just for your information, you are not the only man of our relationshi- Ahh!"

Shadow managed to push Sonic again before he was ready to jump in.

"Shadow, sometimes your actions do amuse me," said Zonic as he chuckled a little.

"That's what happens when you talk too much," replied Shadow with a smirk before he entered the portal. Zonic was about to enter the portal as well but he heard a loud scream ringing his ears.

"WAIT! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS GOING!" Amy yelled while panting. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU GUYS DECIDED TO LEAVE ME AND RUN OFF!"

"A-Amy, I think Sonic prime doesn't want you to come because this could be dangerous." 'Not to mention, she could hinder our mission,' Zonic thought to himself with a sigh.

"NO, NO! I am strong enough to follow you guys! I won't get in the way I promise. Look!" Amy summoned her giant hammer again, "I can fight too, see?"

"I'm not sure Amy..." Zonic tried to avoid her eyes.

"Well I'm sure Sonic would have loved to see me follow him! He once told me that I was helpful during our battles with Eggman so I know that he would appreciate my help again!" said Amy as she roughly pushed Zonic to the side and entered the portal.

"Maybe this is why I didn't date girls.." Zonic murmured to himself before he also entered the portal.

**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Zone Travel**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~***

"Hey Zonic what took you so.. Amy?!" Sonic stepped back a little when he saw a pink hedgehog right behind Zonic.

"Sonic!" Amy ran to the blue hero and hugged him with all her strength, "I want to come along to help you! It's not fair that Shadow can come and I can't."

Sonic could swear he just heard Shadow's low growl in anger.

"Well, Shadow can fight Amy," Sonic tried to reason with his friend. 'Not to mention, he's my boyfriend now,' thought Sonic.

"But I can be helpful too, Sonic! Just watch me! I'm going to be the first one to find the chaos emerald and bring it to you!"

"We'll see about that..." Shadow whispered and Sonic was glad that Amy failed to hear that.

As three hedgehogs looked around, the ultimate life form already started to feel a hint of chaos energy inside his body. His ruby colored eyes moved around the darkness until he spotted an entrance to some kind of theme park looking area. There were numerous amounts of lights, buildings, balloons, decorations, fireworks and not to mention hoard of people.

"The chaos energy is coming from there," Shadow pointed his gloved finger to the direction.

"Woah, that place looks so cool. It that some kind of attraction or a theme park?" Sonic whistled and Amy agreed.

"I guess a close terminology would be Vegas," Zonic sighed. Personally, the zone cop wasn't a party fan at all. "You know like parties, clubs, casinos, resorts… those stuff."

"This is going to be so fun!" Sonic jumped up and down, wanting to explore the place more.

"Right, let's all hang out and forget about the chaos emerald," said Shadow with sarcasm and Sonic narrowed his eyes. As the group entered, the black hedgehog pointed at one of the large club house that was emitting blinding lights with loud music. "I can sense one in here."

"Cool so we get to look for the emerald in a party house? Sweet," Sonic smiled and was about to enter but a slightly drunk looking rabbit who wore a purple dress bumped into the blue hedgehog.

"Hey watch where you're going!" said the rabbit without meeting the hero's eyes.

"Sorry about that," Sonic quickly answered but the rabbit grabbed Sonic's hand by the wrist. "Look, I said it was an accident!"

"Wait, you're that reserved pole dancer that we've been waiting!"

"….say what?" Sonic and Shadow said it at the same time with both of their eyes wide open.

"Yeah! Dude, you have no idea how long the DJ waited! You are like three hours late but no worries! The crowd will be happy to know that you are finally here to perform right, Aqua?"

"Aqua?" Sonic frowned at the name he never heard of._ 'Who is this girl? Scratch that, who in the world is Aqua?'_

"I think you have him mistaken for someone else," Shadow calmly interrupted them but the drunk rabbit gave a cold look to Shadow before speaking again.

"Shut the hell up. You think I don't know who Aqua is? The only hedgehog species that is a pole dancer?" said the rabbit with an attitude while she pointed her finger at Shadow. The black hedgehog's eyes turned into death glare as his ears twitched at what the insolent rabbit said to him.

"Say that to me one more time," Shadow gritted his teeth and Sonic could sense Shadow's chaos energy rising dramatically. Before the ultimate life form started to lose his temper for real, Sonic quickly decided to play along with the drunk rabbit.

"Yeah yeah, I uh… that's me the.. reserved… whatever you just said, hehheh" Sonic faked a laugh. "Let's hurry and go inside so I don't want to keep the DJ waiting."

When Sonic and the rabbit went inside the club house, Shadow and Zonic looked at each other for a brief second, very perplexed at what just happened in front of them.

"Come on guys, we have to follow Sonic!" Amy broke the silence and the two nodded before entering the club house as well. Zonic just hoped that the loud music wouldn't kill his sensitive ears as he tried to understand why people loved to go to parties and clubs so much.

**Inside the club house**

As Sonic was dragged into the back of the stage, he had to admit he enjoyed the carefree atmosphere. The loud music beats, people dancing around and talking and just having some fun. The only complaint that Sonic had was the strong scent of alcohols everywhere but what can you expect in a club? Definitely not a smell of chili dogs. There were a lot of female pole dancers that the blue hero passed by and he decided to see some of their moves just a few more seconds for reference before he heard the DJ on the stage.

"I hope everyone is having a great tonight!" the DJ lowered the music volume to introduce the next performer, "Next we have a VIP entertainer. We all know the blue hedgehog we love and treasure! I give you, Aqua the Hedgehog!"

"My name is Sonic!" The blue hedgehog stomped his foot on the edge of the stage. Even though he understood that everyone in this zone thought he was another blue hedgehog that was supposed to be this famous pole dancer, Sonic didn't want to be introduced with a stranger's name.

"Okay dude, I'm not going on stage unless you say Sonic the hedgehog."

The DJ looked at Sonic with a confused look on his face before turning his head back to the audience.

"Okay clubbers. It sounds like Aqua decided to change his name to Sonic for now. I don't know about you guys but I think that's freaking awesome. Don't you agree?"

The crowd yelled in an agreement and that's when Sonic decided to hop on to the center of the stage.

"Yeah! That's more like it. Sonic the Hedgehog! Remember that name folks!"

"Why do I get this feeling he's enjoying this attention way too much," Shadow face palmed himself and shook his head while Amy also screamed in joy right next to the black hedgehog. The black hedgehog looked around but failed to find Zonic in the massive clubbers. _'Where did he run off to?'_

"So by our popular vote, the song that Aqua- I mean Sonic will be performing will be a heavy-urban dance song with electro-pop and synth-pop. I will start the song and you can get on with it!"

Many of the clubbers stopped dancing and turned their attention to Sonic who stood in the middle of the stage with a large pole in the center that reached high in the air.

"I can't believe my Sonic is going to perform just for me!" Amy blushed as the image of Sonic's dance rushed into her fan girl mind. Shadow on the other hand was a little worried that his boyfriend would make a complete fool out of himself. He just hoped that Sonic knew how to dance with decent taste.

"So I just use this pole to dance, huh?" Sonic talked to himself as the music started. "Okay then, no sweat! Shadow better give me all the attention hehheh."

As the music first started with an upbeat song with a slightly slower tempo, Sonic thought about how he should start this out and he quickly recalled few pole dancers he saw when the rabbit dragged him. Sonic thought that he was pretty good at moving his body to do break dancing or some hip-hop but using wave movements and doing all sorts of stuff using the pole… that, Sonic was unsure. He was going to find out today if he is also good at pole dancing or not.

_'Better do something before making myself look lame.'_

The blue hedgehog decided to grab the pole and walked around it twice before allowing the music to flow inside him as he gave out some small body movements. Since Sonic had to endure so many battles and used different tricks to fulfill his duty as a hero, the blue hedgehog was pretty flexible.

With his right hand continuing to hold tightly on to the metal pole, Sonic gave out a small wave using his full body before circling himself to the opposite side of the pole. He then stretched his blue leg outward and in few seconds, Sonic hooked his outward leg to the metal pole with his right hand continuing to grip the pole.

_'Guess I can do this first before I start climbing up the pole,'_ the blue hedgehog wondered to himself if his next move would be the right choice.

With his right leg wrapped around the pole and his right arm holding tightly on to the pole as well, Sonic arched his body slowly backward as he lowered his right hand to arch his head back a little deeper. He then gently narrowed his eyes and parted his lips a gently. Next he tilted his head to the audience to give off that seducing look into his performance.

_'I.. can't believe what I'm seeing,_' Shadow felt his face turning red and he was glad that the club was dark so others wouldn't notice this. At this moment, the whole audience started to scream in joy and few called out how great Sonic was doing and that they wanted to see something more. Amy also had her cheeks covered with her hands as her eyes were glued to the performer on stage.

'Huh, the music is picking up its pace,' Sonic thought to himself. He quickly came back to the original position with a gentle wave motion from his body.

The blue hedgehog allowed the music to consume him more as he gently moved his body with the music before starting to climb on to the pole. At first, he was scared that his hands would slip off but the pole was pretty sturdy which calmed Sonic a little.

When he was at the top of the pole, Sonic used two of his hands to put himself into an upside down position without sliding down yet. He then stretched out one leg to the top and the other one towards the bottom to create a split. At the same time, he freed one of his hands from the pole to wave at the audience before quickly coming right side up.

After showing off the trick, Sonic placed his body right side up. He then wrapped his leg around the pole and started to slide down gently while twirling around slowly. Clubbers along with Amy continued to cheer the blue pole dancer while Shadow kept his mouth closed. But the black hedgehog's eyes were literally glued to Sonic's motion and his flexible body as his blush grew deeper.

When Sonic reached the bottom of the pole again, he turned around so his back was against the pole. He then arched his head back, allowing his back quills to also feel the cool metal as he slide down in a slight sexual attempt before standing up again with his back continued touch the pole.

_'Oh there was this upside down thing that this girl was doing. Wonder if I can do that,'_ Sonic pondered for a few second to see if he should do it or not. _'Eh, I'll just try it. If I fall then I fall,'_ Sonic nodded briefly before trying to mimic previous pole dancer's trick.

As some people continued to dance to the music, Sonic also remembered to keep his body in motion and not to stand still. With his back touching the pole, Sonic slightly arched his back a little until his both hands were able to grip tightly onto the pole behind him.

"I think he's planning to do the Shoulder Mount!" Someone shouted from the audience and Shadow picked up that sentence immediately.

"The what?" Shadow muttered in confusion. "How the hell does he this anyways?"

As soon as Sonic checked himself that he had enough upper body strength, he lifted both of his legs high into the air until his legs straight up. While he was on his upside down position in the middle of the pole, the blue hedgehog then made a V sigh with his leg while watchers clapped and yelled more positive comments.

"How did that girl do this? I'll never know," Sonic said to himself when he felt small sweat drops forming around his forehead. This took a lot of upper muscle and Sonic knew that he had more power in his legs and then his upper chest area. After few moments of display, Sonic placed his legs together and carefully flipped himself right ward.

He then hooked his right leg to the pole while stretching out his left leg outward. Sonic opened his right arm in the air while the left one tightly held on to the pole. Finally, he arched his head back a little and managed to spin himself very slowly while sliding down the pole to reach the floor. As soon as he reached the bottom, Sonic walked around the pole one more time before giving a gentle wave against the metal.

Of course, with all those tricks that Sonic's been doing, his face was flushed with shades of red and there were noticeable drops of sweats in his face. Not to mention the blue hedgehog panted a little from all the difficult muscle tasks while his eyes were slightly narrowed from tiredness. To Shadow, this image of Sonic was rather… arousing.  
Shadow did admit that his Sonic had that adorable attribute (although he would never say that to Sonic in millions of years) to some degree with a mixture of cocky and not to mention the famous huge ego attitude, but the Sonic that he's seeing right now was very, extremely... appealing. How can someone look cute and sexy at the same time? was the question that brushed into Shadow's mind.

With the heated feedback from the clubbers, Sonic smiled as released his grip from the pole to quickly show off his dance moves and walked back to the pole. He then managed to push himself off the ground and spun around the pole mid-air using only one hand to hold on to the metal bar.

As the circling slowed down, Sonic bent his legs before his knees touched the dance floor and the spinning finally stopped. He continued to hold on to pole with one hand and gave it a fluent wave against it while using his other free hand to smoothly run across his body from top to bottom. While performing this, Sonic glanced his narrowed emerald eyes directly at Shadow, _purposely_ provoking him.

Shadow's ruby eyes widened and he was literally speechless when he made an eye contact with the blue hedgehog. Was this really the carefree Sonic? He never knew Sonic could be... so great at seducing. The worse part was that Shadow knew he was slowly sinking into it.

Sonic laughed inwardly before standing up from his knees again to wrap up this dance.

After few more spins, turns, waves and few grinding here and there, Sonic decided to end the performance without using the pole by doing break dancing. The crowd was a little surprised at the whole change of concept but they still loved it because Sonic was just naturally so good at it. People continued to cheer Sonic's name, Amy being one of them while Shadow still couldn't believe everything that he just witnessed. The music came to a stop and Sonic bowed his head and heard his fans going wild and jumping up and down on the dance floor. The blue hedgehog looked at Shadow and gave him a small wink but Amy thought it was meant for her.

"Thanks you guys!" Sonic waved both of his hands high in the air with his smile flashing at everyone proudly. '_Pole dancing is a lot more fun than I thought!'_

While clubbers continued to cheer in excitement, the black hedgehog wished he regretted the fact that he left the chaos emerald back at Zonic's security room. Shadow wanted to use chaos control on the blue hero. Shadow wanted to send the blue hedgehog to a more secluded place because he didn't like some lustful looks that some people had on his Sonic. After few more seconds of enjoying the fans and popularity, Sonic jumped down from the stage and walked towards Amy and Shadow.

"Did you guys enjoy?" Sonic smiled while his attention was mostly at Shadow.

"I really don't know what to say but... but you were just so amazing Sonic!" Amy screamed to the top of her long as she blushed some more.

"What about you ?" Sonic gently tapped Shadow's arm and the ultimate life form simply turned his away even though it was clear to Sonic that there was a visible red shades on the tan muzzle.

"Don't worry if you missed it," Sonic laughed, "I can always give you that private performace if you like."

"Watch your mouth, Sonic," said Shadow but it did not sound threatening at all to Sonic's amusement, "Let's hurry and look for the emerald before they ask for another encore."

"Why don't we check out the second floor? When I went to the top of that pole, I sensed a chaos emerald on the ceiling level," said Sonic.

"Yeah, why don't we do that? Watch me Sonic as I, Amy Rose, can prove to be useful in your mission!" Amy gripped her hands tightly as she raced to the nearest stair to get to the second floor. Before Sonic took another step, he felt a hand on his shoulder from the behind.

"Good work... out there," whispered Shadow, not really knowing what to say after that. Sonic just chuckled at Shadow's effort to act nice before opening his mouth to speak.

"Hey, I wasn't kidding about that private performance."

Both hedgehog exchanged a quick look before dashing off to the same location that Amy headed off to. Meanwhile in the bar section of the club, Zonic bumped into the green hedgehog who had his sunglasses on and held a blue alcohol drink.

"Look who decided to join the party!" yelled Scourge.

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**I really hope you guys enjoyed this because believe it or not.. I have no idea how the pole dancing works so I had to reference off from someone I know who pole dances for a healthy sport :) **

**It was a little hard but hope you guys liked it and I didn't blow off any expectations! T_T **

**Thank you and review please!**


	23. Death Do Us Part

**Thank you Everyone for the review! I'm so sorry this one is a bit late! I just had few things going on in life since I am also a human haha XD**

**Thank you notes to reviewers will be sent out as soon as possible!**

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_**Four Amazing Fan Arts Must SEE!**_

**BEFORE YOU READ CHECK OUT THESE FOUR COOL AWESOME SUPER FAN ARTS! THEY ARE ALL SO SO SO SO GOOD! I cried when I saw them! Tears of joy! Loved each and every one of them! (insert screaming in epic happiness here)**

**Why can't I paste Link here! Gyah! But the link will be posted in my profile  
**

*** Artist: shadowhatesomochao Title: Caring For Your Rival (Sonadow) **

**Holy you guys seriously need to see this art it is so freaking amazing! The picture is from the chapter when Sonic and Shadow tried to get into this Halloween Party and Sonic had to act like a girl wearing a purple witch costume while Shadow decided to get the vampire costume. It is so good! ! Really really I was impressed! I could really see why this artwork took a lot of long time because really... it is a master piece. Sonic's face expression is so cute all blushing and his eyes half lidded and Shadow is like holding on to Sonic awww. The costume design was super.. better than what I had in my mind when I was writing that chapter! I also like how the artist made Sonic and Shadow's eyes slightly glow. The coloring and shading were just beyond wow.**

**This was also commission from deviant art from ID memoriesandlove. Thank you again friend! (I actually personally know her haha) **

*** Artist: Larka-Lover Title: Caring For Your Rival (Bad Trio)**

**Thank you so much! Although you probably read my thank you note to you regarding this picture too! This is also super duper duper super good! I just loved Mephiles, Zhadow and Scourge all in one picture hahah XD Scourge is all taking over the screen and Zhadow is like move aside! Mephiles is looking over them like a boss! The coloring was really good and I really really loved the overall look on these three bad trios XD I like their face expressions and Zhadow seemes to be annoyed that Scourge is in front of him haha! Thank you so much it was really great! **

*** Artist: Eli-the-hedgehog Title: Sonadow Rainy Day**

**Thank you Thank you! I loved this a lot a lot a lot! (Yeah you also received my long note few weeks back hehheh) This was from Chapter 16 titled "I think I love you, Shadow" You know that famous scene when Sonic starts to really open up and he was all tearing up and Shadow was hugging him and awwwww so cute! (haha funny I'm saying that it's so cute and I wrote it lol!) Anyways the teary and surprised expression on Sonic's face really caught my attention! How should I say... Sonic's expression really captured his emotion and that surprise look he had when Shadow have him that hug 3 The picture overall gave that fluffy mood hehheh. Thank you so much!**

***Artist: Molly10132 Title: Start of Jealousy?**

**I just came back from commenting saying how awesome it was and saying thank you but.. I shall say it again haha. Thank you so much! This artwork was really good! It is like combination of fluffy and cute and sense of "awww poor Sonic. He thinks Shadow doesn't really care about him XD" The overall picture is really colorful and I really liked how Molly selected the scene from uh... gyah! Forgot what chapter it was but it's the one where Zonic and Shadow are talking and Sonic feels left behind 0 I had fun writing that chapter hehheh. The expressions on each of the characters really showed their different personality and look! Zector and Zespio is there too! lol Thanks a lot for the artwork!**

**Check out those FOUR arts! Type the title and it will come up! Thank you Artists! Hope you guys will enjoy this chapter too! 3 **

**Or go to my profile for links! **

**I can't believe you guys would actually do so many nice things to me T_T I'm touched :D**

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"Hey there !" Scourge waved his hands as if he was greeting one of his old best friend, "Please sit, sit~ I would be upset if you didn't."

Zonic was a little surprised that he saw one of his most annoying inmate having fun at this club, not to mention getting himself slightly drunk from alcohols. The zone cop was not in any mood to deal with the green hedgehog's nonsense as he took out the handcuff to arrest him. Scourge on the other hand didn't even show any hint of worry on his face as he took a small sip of the blue colored drink before speaking again.

"Zhadow and I are here looking for the chaos emerald," said Scourge and he grinned when he saw Zonic's hand movement stopping right away.

_'Is he just messing around with me?'_ Zonic thought to himself carefully.

"Zhadow is outside if that's what you're thinking about," Scourge chuckled, "You are such a love sick girl, ya know that?"

"Watch your mouth," Zonic pointed at the prisoner, "I plan to show no mercy when I take you back to the No Zone prison." Zonic narrowed his eyes and walked a little closer in order to fully capture the drunken hedgehog. Zonic thought this should be easy since Scourge looked completely wasted and his eyes were not even focused anymore. When Zonic was about to put on the handcuff that had the similar function of limiter rings, Scourge looked up with his lazy eyes.

"I know why Zhadow is acting cold to you," whispered the green hedgehog before he gave out a small hiccups.

"... N-no you don't." Zonic cursed himself for stuttering as he mentally slapped himself.

"Yeah I do, man. Just because I look drunk doesn't mean I'm wasted. I'm just feeling a little buzz and apparently this drink," Scourge raised the glass with blue liquid inside, "made me have a pretty good mood. So why don't I play along the hero's side for today?"

"As if I'm going to trust a wanted criminal who was on the list for more than five years," Zonic rolled his eyes.

"Heh, I figured someone as stubborn and serious as you wouldn't trust me that easily so here ya go," Scourge laughed as he quickly grabbed Zonic's arm with his left hand and placed a red chaos emerald on to Zonic.

"A chaos emerald?" Zonic almost raised his voice, "This isn't fake... right?"

"Zonic~ Zonic~, if you think it's fake then why don't you go to that Shadow guy and ask him. I'm sure he can tell if that chaos emerald is real or not."

As the music in the club house began to get louder, the blue zone cop had harder time processing the whole information that his inmate gave to him. First of all, why would Scourge give up the red chaos emerald in the first place? Also, if he really came here to search for another chaos emerald then where was Zhadow?

When Scourge realized that Zonic's mind was lost in his own little word, he decided to make things a little easier for his favorite cop.

"I'm sure you have so many questions to ask me," Scourge grinned, "Let's take this outside. It's obvious that your not going to sit down and have a proper drink with me so what's the point of staying here."

_'This could be a trap but... I might gain something valuable from this,'_ Zonic thought to himself and nodded his head in an agreement.

"If I see any suspicious business from you, then I'm not going to hold back," Zonic hissed and the green hedgehog simply laughed at the zone cop's comment. As Scourge and Zonic existed the club house and went to the more secluded area not too far away from the party house, the green hedgehog thought about what between in the No Zone Ark few days ago with him, Zhadow and Mephiles.

**~ (Explains why Scourge is being 'nice' to Zonic and Mephiles' evil plan on Zonic to trigger Dark Sonic)~**

"If I get some of my hands on Sonic's dark powers and combine with the power that I received from Black Doom then I would be able to stop that pathetic ultimate life form without breaking a sweat," said Mephiles as he turned to Zhadow, "According to what you told me Zhadow, is that Sonic starts to emit his dark energy when he thought Shadow died, correct?"

"That's what happened," Zhadow muttered as he traced back to his memory when he confronted Dark Sonic, "The chaos emerald also lost their colors which I'm assuming that Sonic prime sucked out the chaos energy."

"Then it's settled. Anger is our key," Mephiles cleared his throat, "And _sacrifice_ is the trigger."

"You mean killing someone?" asked Scourge which finally got his interest in this boring conversation.

"Well, trying to kill Shadow didn't work out very well so it would be wasting our time if we repeat that process again," said Zhadow but he didn't really like the idea of where their topic was heading to. Zhadow have hurt and injured many people ever since he stopped his duty as a zone cop but he never took the innocent lives of people. That was wrong even from Zhadow's perspective.

"Who said I was going for Shadow? That hedgehog's life is mine. I was referring to another blue hedgehog that Sonic seems to have grown his bond with," said Mephiles as he turned his head away from the ex-zone cop.

"...?! You can't be serious," Zhadow stepped forward and even the green hedgehog followed who Mephiles meant.

"You're going to kill Zonic?" Instead of forming an excited smile on his face, Scourge gave off a slight concerned look. _'This killing stuff might have been a little bit more fun if it wasn't that stupid zone cop,'_ thought Scourge.

"You can't just kill him off like that," Zhadow raised his voice.

"You are telling that me that you no longer want to have revenge on Zonic for what he did to you?" Mephiles hissed under his breath.

"Yes but revenge does not always involve murdering," said Zhadow. Scourge was about to say something but he realized that Mephiles' finger was reaching towards his own arm that had a small device.

_'Is that guy going to trigger Zhadow's fake memory again?'_ Scourge recalled the last time when he first witnessed Mephiles using that trick against Zhadow who seemed to have no clue that what was going on. The dark hedgehog was about to press the switch but Zhadow took one of the red chaos emerald from the computer table.

"I am not going to assist you if you take Zonic's life and that is my final word," warned Zhadow as he narrowed his eyes and used chaos control to have some private time thinking about what Mephiels said.

"Maybe we should just take another victim " Scourge turned to Mephiles and tried to ligntened the mood, "I mean, we just have to anger that blue blur right?"

"It cannot be just any anger, it has to be something that is very traumatizing that he will start to lost himself into his own chaotic darkness. Zonic is going to be our target and I don't care if Zhadow likes it or not."

_'This guy might be too crazy for power then I thought,'_ Scourge scratched his quills and expressed an uneasy look on his face. _'When if I end up being dead because this guy needs** another sacrifice** for his plan?'_

Then Scourge thought about Zonic for a few seconds. Even though the inmate hated every time when Zonic captured him and placed him into the prison, he had to admit, it was fun playing the chase game with the zone cop. Sure there were some punishment here and there when he got captured but that's what made it more fun when Scourge managed to escape again and forced Zonic to play in his little game of tag.

"I am going to try to locate the next emerald. When I do, I want you and Zhadow to go and bring me that next emerald, got it?" Mephiles then existed the main computer room, leaving Scourge all by himself.

"Hmm maybe it's time for me to ditch this place," Scourge told himself, a little scared of continuing to work with Mephiles, "It was a lot more fun when I was with my own crew anyways."

**~(So now you know Scourge's side! Now back to Sonic, Shadow and Amy)~**

Meanwhile, Shadow, Sonic and Amy reached the second floor of the club house where they confronted a long hallway with at least ten doors on each side of the wall.

"Is this supposed to be like a club house motel?" Sonic raised his eye ridge while Shadow stood there silently.

"Why don't we just open the door and ask people if they saw any shiny looking object?" Amy suggested and went to the first door that was located to her right.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Shadow muttered but it was obvious that the pink hedgehog didn't hear anything. Without knocking, Amy slammed the door open.

"Excuse me! Can I ask...Uh-Oh.." Amy covered her mouth as her cheek blushed madly when she saw two couples making out in a master bed.

"Amy! Close the door!" Sonic rushed and when he was about to close the door for his friend, one of the couple screamed in anger as she threw a pillow which landed right on the blue hero's face.

"There was nothing interesting to see anyways," said Shadow as he glared at the couple before closing the door.

"Are you okay Sonic? Oh I'm so sorry!" Amy removed the pillow on the blue hedgehog's face and Sonic just chuckled a little.

"It's fine Amy, you didn't know," Sonic shrugged his shoulder.

"Hmph, well now it's obvious that we can't just open random doors unless you want to have another pillow thrown at your face," said Shadow.

"Well mister ultimate life form," Sonic rolled his eyes, "Can you share with the class location of the emerald then? I bet you already sensed where it was right?"

"The sixth door on the right," Shadow grinned at his secret boyfriend but his smile faded away when he sense presence of another hedgehog in that same room, "Damn, don't tell me he's here too."

"Who's here Shadow?" asked Sonic but the black hedgehog skated to the door and quickly opened it.

"Hey! You didn't knock too!" yelled Amy as she and Sonic went to Shadow.

When Shadow opened the door, there was Zhadow who already held the green chaos emerald in his hand.

"Well, if it isn't the great ultimate life form," said Zhadow as he threw the green chaos emerald in to the air before catching it, "So great that you were able to recover from the anti-chaos gun that I shot you with."

"Let's just cut to the point," Shadow crossed his arms, now wanting to speak with Zhadow after what he did to him, "Just hand over the chaos emerald and I might let you go without getting hurt."

"Don't steal my line." Zhadow was about to use his chaos spear but Shadow quickly jumped and pushed Zhadow with huge force to the point where both of them crushed through the window and fell outside.

"Okay, you guys can't party without me!" Sonic also jumped out from the window and landed on his feet. "I want to play with Zhadow too."

"You try to steal his chaos emerald Sonic, I'll distract him," said Shadow.

"But _I_ want to do the distraction!" Sonic complained to the black hedgehog who gave himself a face palm before speaking again.

"Fine _you_ distract him while I get the emerald then," Shadow sighed and shook is head at how childish Sonic can be sometimes.

"Woah.. did Shadow the hedgehog let me do something that I," Sonic pointed at himself, "Sonic wanted to do for the first time?"

"Don't get too used to with it. I just don't want to put up with your idiotic nonsense," Shadow muttered and shyly looked away from Sonic.

"Aww just admit it, you are turning nice just for me, hehheh." The blue hedgehog chuckled before using his fastest speed to appear right in front of Zhadow before the ex-zone cop even had the time to use his chaos control.

"Wha-" Zhadow didn't finish his sentence as Sonic used his leg to give a firm kick in the stomach, sending the ex-zone cop flying backward.

"I can tie you again just like last time!" Zhadow shouted and was about to use chaos bind to restrain Sonic.

"As long as you keep moving around, you can avoid getting stopped by chaos bind," Shadow quickly reminded the blue hedgehog.

"Yo, thanks for the advice," Sonic winked. "Keeping my feet busy is the easiest thing that I can do!"

"That Shadow..." Zhadow gritted his teeth hard as Sonic started to circle around the ex-zone cop with high speed. It was impossible for him to use chaos bind at this rate.

"And Sonic goes for the opening!" Sonic yelled as he punched Zhadow's lower part of his muzzle and continued the hit with his homing attack. When Zhadow seemed a little exhausted, Shadow thought this would be the perfect chance do snatch the emerald.

Just when Shadow was about to take the green chaos emerald, Zhadow pulled away just in time and used chaos spear. The ultimate life form also used his own chaos spears to block the same attack.

"I don't have time to play games with you two," Zhadow smirked. "I came here to find the emerald and I did so my mission is done. Chaos con-"

"Zhadow?"

The ex-zone cop's ears perked up instantly as he recognized the same voice anywhere. When everyone turned around to the area where the voice came from, they saw Scourge and Zonic coming out from the dark alley.

"Zonic, what are you doing with that creep?!" Sonic pointed at the green hedgehog who seemed to be slightly pissed when he heard the blue hero's comment.

"We were making out, got a problem with that Blue?" Scourge stuck his tongue out to mock the other blue hedgehog and Zonic rolled his eyes.

"Scourge and I were just exchanging some information," replied Zonic.

"Scourge what the hell were you doing?" Zhadow asked as he stopped using his chaos control.

"Eh... just telling Zonic about Mephiles' plan and few things about you. Geeze don't get too jealous, Zhadow," laughed the green hedgehog.

"What?" Zhadow narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah you see, I never planned on sticking around with Mephiles I mean he is a total psycho who wants power and I just don't feel safe around that guy," Scourge said as if it was no big deal. "And for the record, I like to follow by my own rule. Nobody orders me around what to do!"

"Scourge you did what?!" A dark voice came from out of nowhere and instantly, a purple portal opened by itself and Mephiles finally entered into the battle field.

"Sonic be careful!" Amy yelled from the second floor then a thought occurred to her, "I should evacuate other people in this area, that's something that I can do by myself." The pink hedgehog decided to go back to the first floor in order to warn the party people downstairs.

"I knew you good for nothing brat would be looking for trouble again," Mephiels hissed under his breath and glared at the green hedgehog. "I should kill you first before I take care of the rest of you. Zhadow hand over the chaos emerald," Mephiles turned to the ex-zone cop who stood there thinking to himself before throwing the green emerald to Mephiles.

"No!" yelled Shadow as he leaped into the air to take the emerald away but Mephiles used dark energy force, causing Shadow to fly back and hit his back on a nearby tree.

"Shadow are you alright?" Sonic ran next to the black hedgehog for support.

"I'm fine, just get the emerald before Mephiles escapes this dimension."

"Don't worry Shadow, I don't plan to leave soon," Mephiles chuckled to himself and touched the green emerald, "At least not yet. And you Scourge, prepare to die by my own hands. With the powers that I received from Black Doom, it should be an easy task to kill you with one blow."

"He got power from Black Doom?" Shadow gritted his teeth. No wonder the attack that Shadow just received hurt a lot more than before.

"Uh oh, it's time for me to bail. Zonic, we made a deal, now open the portal to to my homeland," Scourge grinned and the blue zone cop sighed as he used his dimensional gun to open a doorway to Scourge's freedom.

"There you go," said Zonic with his monotone.

"Zonic! What are you doing?! What deal?!" Sonic yelled but the head zone cop decided to ignore answering his question so Scourge told them the story instead.

"The deal was that for sharing my valuable information, Zonic needs to get rid this ridiculous tracking device that he placed on me years ago and to let me loose," said Scourge as he jumped into the portal yelling, "Catch you later Mephiles!"

Mephiles growled in anger, "He can't run away from me forever. Now on to my plan, Zhadow I want you to take care of Sonic. It shouldn't be a huge problem for you, right? And Shadow, I hope you can handle my clones because they became a lot stronger than before, thanks to Black Doom's power."

"Oh great, double the trouble," Sonic scratched his back quills and got into battle position.

"This time I'm going to kill you for real!" Zhadow skated towards Sonic, "Chaos Spear!"

"Bring it on! I can dodge those with no sweat!" said Sonic as he also charged to the incomplete ultimate life form.

_'Mephiles has the chaos emerald that he's been looking for so why isn't he running away like how he usually does?'_ Shadow tried to figure out what Mephiles was really up to.

"Stop zoning out Shadow, we are in a battle field!" Mephiles raised both of his hands and hundreds of clones appeared from the ground but they looked slightly different than the ones Shadow usually fought with. Instead of the crystallized forms, they looked more like a hard metal with black and red eyes with no stripes on the back quills. "Now my clones, feel the new power and destroy that so called the ultimate life form!"

"It can't be," Shadow muttered himself as he backed away while all the clones surrounded him, "All of these clones... they each have high chaos energy level?"

"You can do so many things with Black Doom's power, right Shadow?" Mephiles enjoyed the panic look on Shadow's face.

Shadow was about to use his chaos blast but Sonic and Zonic were also within the same range. After a deep sigh, he knew that his powerful attack was out of option because of the high risk of injuring his friend and not to mention his boy friend as well. Just then, all the clones jumped to grab Shadow at once but he managed to escape.

"Chaos Lance!" Shadow unleashed the higher level of his signature move of chaos spear in various directions. It didn't fully destroy the clones but it was able to paralyze them for time being.

"Shadow! Let me help you!" Sonic yelled but received a hard blow on his left cheek from Zhadow's punch, sending him flying to the air.

"Your opponent is here!" Zhadow growled and used his chaos spears which landed right on target this time.

After making some successful attacks on to the clones, the ultimate life form saw Sonic receiving a direct hit from Zhadow and falling from the mid air.

"That idiot!" Shadow gritted his teeth and skated to where Sonic fell in order to catch him safely in his arms.

"N-nice catch," Sonic inhaled and exhaled deeply while Shadow gently traced the left cheek that Zhadow landed his punch on before releasing Sonic to the ground.

"Be careful, only I get to beat you like that, got it?"

"Hehheh, good to know that," Sonic winked before turning himself into a spinning ball and launching a payback attack on Zhadow.

While Sonic and Shadow were busy with Mephiels' clone and Zhadow, Zonic thought about what Scourge told him about Zhadow.

_'He said there is a switch on Mephiles' wrist,'_ Zonic analyzed and saw a small device with a red button when Mephiles raised his hand to apply more energies to his clones. _'That must be it!'_

"Now my clones, I'm going to give you more- what?!" Mephiles swiftly dodge d Zonic's low kick which caused him to lose some control over clones a little. "Right as if_ you_ can defeat me," Mephiles let out a dark laughter and waved his hand in order to create black mist that tried to hit Zonic.

The zone cop quickly took out a small machine that automatically turned into a clear yellow barrier which easily canceled out Mephiles' attack.

"I might not have the speed but I do have some mechanical advantages," Zonic grinned, "And from my analysis, it seems like you're not good that close combat."

In order to control the new powerful clones, Mephiles knew that it required some concentrations. Also, he knew that Zonic made a correct observation: close combat was never Mephiles' style of fighting.

"Lucky for me," said Zonic and ran to Mephiles. Every time when the dark hedgehog tried to use his dark energies, the small device that Zonic carried helped him to block out any of the attacks.

"You fool! You have no idea who you're dealing wi-"

Before Mephiles had the chance to protect himself, Zonic swiftly punched Mephiles' stomach and made a turn in order to kick him hard on the back of his head. Zonic might not have the exact same speed as Sonic but in terms of strength and speed of his hands and feet movement, he was in the upper hand.

"I can sense the clones getting weaker," said Shadow as he took off his limiter rings, "I should use this chance to eliminate them once and for all."

After receiving some heavy blows, Mephiles quickly backed away and raised his green chaos emerald, "Enough with this nonsense!"

"He's going to use chaos control to stop time!" screamed Sonic as he pinned Zhadow to the ground.

"Shadow!" Zonic reached into his zone cop uniform's pocket in order to take out the red chaos emerald that he received from Scourge before, "Use your chaos control to counter his!"

Within that few seconds, Mephiles was able to see an opening from Zonic who had his attention mostly on to the red chaos emerald and Shadow just for **five seconds**.

'Five seconds distraction is all I need to kill!' Mephiles canceled his chaos control and raised the hand that did not carry the green emerald.

"Rule number one Zonic, never create an opening even for a second!" yelled Mephiles as his hand turned into a long sharp purple crystal that extended to Zonic.

The head zone cop cursed himself as he tried to avoid the dangerous attack.

It was too late.

Zonic felt his heart ripping apart and no longer felt the beating rhythm anymore.

Shadow who just finished destroying the last Mephiles clones with his limiter off stood up from the ground but realized that he was too late and cursed under his breath while both his hands formed tightly into a fist filled with anger while yelling, "No!"

Mephiles continued to laugh like madman and didn't notice that Zonic reached into his back pocket to take out a small gun.

"That's what you get for landing your filthy hands on me!" Mephiles's crazy laughter echoed around the battle field. "Now I don't have to see your annoying face anymore and-"

Then Mephiles felt a sharp pain on his wrist that had the machine which was used to manipulate Zhadow's memories. The machine broke into millions pieces like a fragile glass from Zonic's gun.

"No! What did you do!" Mephiles shrieked and Zonic dropped the gun to the floor.

"Simple, you had an opening..." Zonic gave off a weak laughter.

Sonic and Zhadow were so busy with each other, they didn't realize what just happened between Mephiles and Zonic. When the blue hero decided to glance at how Zonic was doing, Sonic was in for a shock.

"ZONIC!" Sonic yelled as he witnessed the horrible scene. At this moment, Sonic thought he was watching the whole scene in a slow motion film as the world silenced around him. Mephiles' crystal knife went directly through Zonic's chest which perfectly aimed at his heart.

Zhadow also turned his head and saw the exact same image that Sonic witnessed. It was not a pleasing site for the ex-zone cop at all.

"No matter, Zhadow wasn't a big help to me anyways," Mephiles whispered but was still angry because Zonic managed to land a lot of hits on to him. In order to make Zonic's death more painful as if stabbing directly in the heart wasn't enough, Mephiles enlarged the size of the crystal knife which caused Zonic to scream in pure pain. After receiving some satisfaction,Mephiles pulled his weapon back and this impact caused Zonic to cough out blood as he continued to stand there with a blank face.

_'Am I… really dying…?'_

"ZONIC!" The blue zone cop faintly heard a familiar voice as he saw Zhadow running to him with an extremely worried look on his face with eyes watering up with tears.

'_I am going to die...'_ Zonic accepted the fact as he felt his legs weak and started to fall backward. His eyes were still focused on to the image of Zhadow coming after him. Although his heart started malfunction, Zonic felt a small wave of warmth in his chest.

'_But… why am I… so happy?'_ Zonic tried to analyze his mental process before everything connected together._ 'It's obvious. Zhadow's eyes… they're not filled with hatred towards me,'_ Zonic felt his body hitting harshly to the floor, 'That's why.'

The sound of Mephiles laughing, Sonic screaming and Zhadow's voice started to fade away from Zonic's ears.

"No…" Shadow whispered and was about to go and help Zonic but he thought it would be better to keep his eyes on Mephiles for everyone's safety.

"Zonic! Zonic!" Zhadow finally made it to the zone cop who was severely bleeding on the right side of the chest area. "I.. You… A-are you…" Zhadow didn't know what he should say or what he was supposed to do. He never agreed to Mephiles killing Zonic in the first place so why did this even happen?

"D-don't…don't die…" Zhadow's voice became hoarser as he gently lifted Zonic's head from the ground, "Please… I didn't want this! I didn't ask for this!" Zhadow shut his eyes tightly and tears of melancholy poured out from his ruby colored eyes.

Zonic's eyes were half lidded but the visions were no longer clear anymore. He saw a dark figure and even though it sounded and looked just like Shadow, Zonic knew that it was Zhadow. The zone cop made a conscious effort to inhale as much as possible but ended up coughing out more blood instead as his muscles started to stiffen.

_'What should I say to him…'_ Zonic's emerald eyes were losing their colors,_ 'What should my last…"_ A single tear drop fell when he was reminded that this would be really his last time saying something to his beloved Zhadow, _'What should my** last** word be…'_ Zonic blinked a couple of times and more tears fell out that matched the ex-zone cop.

"You're going to be… okay… you're not going to die," Zhadow grabbed Zonic's purple gloved hand as he searched for any signal of Zonic's movement other than his rapid breathing, "Y-your Zonic the Zone Cop after all… you can't die like this!" Zhadow shook his head violently.

Zonic no longer heard Zhadow's voice anymore and he knew that his time was going to be up soon. To be perfectly honest, the zone cop was scared very much. He wasn't too scared about the death itself but what he was worried about was the fact that Zhadow would live forever feeling the guilt and the head zone cop didn't want that.

After all, Zonic learned from Scourge that Mephiles was involved in manipulating Zhadow's memory so it was not really the ex-zone cop's fault.

_'Fault,'_ Zonic thought to himself,_ 'That's I should say to him.'_

Zonic wanted to say simply but lovely words to Zhadow before he left the world for good such as 'I love you' or 'I missed you so much' but there was something more important that he had to say.

Using every last bit of strength that Zonic can muster up together, he managed to place his right hand onto Zhadow's hand as his eyes slowly closed.

"….It's…..n-not your….fault," Zonic felt Zhadow's tear touching his face, "It's not…." Zonic murmured his last sentence before his soul left his body for good.

Zonic was dead.

"It's not my fault…?!" Zhadow gently shook Zonic but the head zone cop remained silent with his tears, "How in the world is it not my fault!" Zhadow screamed to the top of his lung and buried his face onto Zonic's body.

"No… Shadow… Zonic can't be dead… right?!" Sonic desperately turned to the black hedgehog who just closed his eyes and faced the floor.

"Zonic come back! Please… look I'm sorry! It's all my fault!" Zhadow cried but he also noticed that something was happening with his memories as he cried for Zonic. It was as if his memory was moving around and repairing by itself. Then, Zhadow's eyes opened widely when he finally realized that Zonic had nothing to do with destroying his home, the Ark, and also killing all the scientists with it.

It was never Zonic to begin with.

It was Mephiles.

"No… I was.. tricked…?" Zhadow bit his lips hard in anger as blood started to seep out, "Zonic… he never did anything wrong. He never envied my power… he never did. He wasn't the one who destroyed the Ark either…." Zhadow's anger and sadness mixed together and boiled down to one target and that was Mephiles. If it wasn't for Zonic's death, Zhadow would have attacked Mephiles right away for manipulating his memory which caused him to cause so much fasle hatred for his poor Zonic.

"Zonic… I'm so sorry… I… I didn't know I was getting used… please… I'm sorry," Zhadow continued to hug Zonic close to his own body, " I don't deserve this but... I love you…"

"MEPHILES WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" Sonic growled after the whole scene between Zhadow and Zonic ended and he couldn't look at it anymore. "DON'T YOU DARE THINK THAT YOU CAN LEAVE THIS AREA ALIVE!" Sonic started to form a sadistic grin and this caused Shadow to frown in fear and confusion.

"S-Sonic?" Shadow tried to call out for the blue hero but failed to receive his attention.

_'This is it,'_ Mephiles' grip on the green chaos emerald tightened, _'And there is the red chaos emerald. Two should be enough to awake Dark Sonic.'_

"That zone cop was pathetic anyways," Mephiles said it plainly, "By the way Zhadow, you're free to go. I believe I wasted my time and effort on changing your memory since you were no good to me anyways."

Then that's when Sonic snapped.

"You…. You used Zhadow….?" Sonic's gloved hands formed into a fist, "So Zhadow wasn't the villain from the start with."

"But now that my machine is broken by that pathetic zone cop, his memory should be returning back to normal now," Mephiles chuckled and carefully watched Sonic's every single move.

"You destroyed Zonic and Zhadow's relationship," Sonic felt a darkness consuming him as he licked his lips, "Do you know how messed up you sound like right now?!" Then Sonic used his full speed to get his hands onto Mephiles.

"Sonic stop!" Shadow called out but it was already too late to stop him.

When Sonic was about to hit Mephiles with everything he had, the dark hedgehog quickly used chaos control to appear right behind Sonic. Mephiles then used his hands to hold both of Sonic's hand from the back and whispered into the blue ear.

"You might be useful then I thought," said Mephiles as his hands started to dig into Sonic's peach arms, "Let your hatred dominate you. I want to see your darker form. Why don't I help you to trigger it?"

As soon as Mephiles released a tiny sample of his own dark energy directly onto Sonic, the blue hedgehog's emerald eyes became small and his quills were turning into darker colors. Shadow noticed that the green and red chaos emerald started to lose their colors and chaos energies as well.

_'I don't like where this is going…!'_ Sonic felt too much power in his body and he wasn't sure he if could contain all this. At the same time, Sonic could tell that his sanity was slipping as the dark energies ate him away.

"S-Stop it! Stop it right_ now_!" Sonic begged Mephiles with apprehension in his eyes as he threw his head back "Argghhh!"

"This power… it's incredible!" Mephiles laughed as he began to absorb the dark power and transferred it into the dull green colored chaos emerald. Dark Sonic continued to cry in pain as he felt his energies literally getting sucked by Mephiles.

"Let him go before I rip you into pieces!" yelled Shadow as he charged towards the dark hedgehog who had Dark Sonic as a hostage.

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**Next Chapter? **

**If you don't want spoilers then please skip this preview section!**

**If you don't want spoilers then please skip this preview section!**

**If you don't want spoilers then please skip this preview section!**

**If you don't want spoilers then please skip this preview section!**

**If you don't want spoilers then please skip this preview section!**

"I remember when you died Sonic," Shadow carefully took out the topic, "That girl was able to bring you back mixing the power of the seven chaos emeralds and some of her own power."

"Even if we collect seven chaos emeralds, how are we going to find someone who knows how to revive someone using emeralds?" asked Zhadow as he gently touched Zonic's corpse next to him.

"Merlina!" Sonic clapped his hand once.

"The.. who?" Both Shadow and Zhadow repeated at the same time.

"She's this cool wizard who knows all sorts of ancient magics and spells! She's also the one who summoned me into the Arthurian storybook realm. I bet she can help us with this problem!"

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**There you go! almost 7,000 words! **

**Please review if you enjoyed it beacuse it is still amazing for me to know that you guys are keeping up with this story after 23 chatpers yay~**

**Hopefully this wasn't too sad 0_0...**


	24. Enter Sir Lancelot and His Majesty!

**Thank you note to anonymous/guest reviewers for chapter 23 is here! If you posted please check!**

**The thank you notes to those that reviewed with accounts are sent in private message!****I hope I got every single one of you hehheh! XD **

**Sometimes it gets a little confusing to me as well and if for some reason IF missed you, which I'm pretty sure I didn't but humans do make mistake, I am very sorry! :( You can remind me or tell me that I forgot to reply to you back hehhe but I do treasure every reviews I receive!**

******Anonymous:** Gyah! I am so so so so so sorry not being able to reply back to you from the last two chapters! I read both of your reviews and I cannot thank you enough for always being such a loyal reader by commenting every time it really does make me happy! Loyal like Lancelot! lol! Anyways thank you always for your support and I hope you will enjoy this chapter as well!

**reader**: Aww thank you very much! I really appreciate to hear that from you!

**sonarthehedgehog:** Sorry if I made you long for this chapter too! Let's hope this one is good as the last one lol (even though last one was sad indeed T_T sniff) awww picture for me? You shouldn't have hehheh... what sonic pole dance picture? this I cannot wait XD I shall wait until it is finished! woot!

**Andrea:** Woah thank you for reading my story and welcome new reader! Hehheh Well, when i was in my summer vacation, the story was updated once a week... no lies haha XD but as my school started, I think the average time is around once a month. So far, I never left readers wait more than two months for sure! Which is I guess.. good? hehheh thank you for liking my story btw! Oh and what's a crack fic if you don't mind me asking? haha XD

**EternalMaskRose8:** Sniff Zonic! I make him suffer the most haha T_T Thank you for always commenting on my stories and keeping up with them friend! I really really appreciate them! King Sonic should bring you something good later to you lol!

**Stephanie:** Let's all get Mephiles for killing Zonic! lol

**sexysonic:** hello there! Your ID is very easy to remember hehheh XD Thank you so much for the review! And to be honest.. even I don't really know how long it is going to be! XD But as long as people enjoy reading them, I guess that makes me happy hehheh. Yup there would especially be some sonadow moment in the black knight section and Shadow might get a little jealous because of Lancelot being overly nice to Sonic and.. gyah! I can't spoil yet! lol

**ShadowandTails14:** Aww I'm glad that you are enjoying the story right now! yay cheer in happiness! I hope you will find this chapter fun just like the last one!

**Finnish girl:** hehhe thank you so much for the review! Funny because there is a mention of Excalibur near the end! Woah you predicted my story!

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**Wait! I know I am talking a lot today! hahaha but please check out these two new fanarts from DeviantArt!**

*** Artist: ShadowIsLoved**

**Title: Caring for Your Rival**

**Okay this... you readers have to see this master piece! This is really cute! Gyah! I thought it was... just so cute! Fantastic! Adorable! AJSND&^*&! Period!****The scene is that pocky game that Shadow tried to do with Zonic to make Sonic jealous. Remember the Jealous game between Shadow and Sonic while Zonic helped Shadow? Yeah! It's that scene! Shadow looks so proud of himself haha and Zonic is all "O_o what am I putting myself into" and Sonic's pouting face is just adorable! The coloring looks great and the title is really visible with a parenthesis that says jealous game.. awwww! Please see this lovely artwork! The link will be in my profile soon or type the artist's and title name in DeviantArt! **

**I believe my friend caringforafriend asked ShadowisLoved (cute ID btw!) for a commission XD Thank you very much to both ShadowIsLoved and caringforafriend! This really.. really was a huge surprise for me that really made me happy when I saw the picture! no really I was really really really happy and screamed in joy when I saw the awesome artwork! **

**Artist: shadangel98**

*** Title: Caring for Your Rival**

**I thought the four characters in this artwork was just so cute and adorable! Hmm hmm where to start! Well, I enjoyed seeing Sonic's all frustrated and disappointing face because of Amy (Oh and you were the first person who also included Amy in the story! Woah! and I must say, Amy came out really well! All the other charatcers came out good too! But its been a while since I saw an artwork of Amy too lol! Shadow looks adorable as always in his little jealous stuff and hahaha I thought Zonic was so freaking cute in this little chibi form! Overall this artwork was so cute and gyah such adorableness! Please see this fluffly artwork as well! The link will also be uploaded in my profile soon! **

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**Sorry for my overly talking haha here is the story for real!**

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_'This is not happening. This can't be happening!'_ Shadow was never the one to panic but this time even he did not know how this whole mess would turn out in the end. Apparently, Mephiles was literally sucking the life, not to mention the cryptic chaos energy, out from Dark Sonic and somehow fusing it with the green emerald for later use. The black hedgehog also realized that this was indeed an extremely painful process for Dark Sonic as well. His constant screaming only caused Shadow to become more desperate as he skated towards his enemy.

"I'm not done with him yet!" Mephiles growled as his grip on Dark Sonic's arms became tighter by the second.

"Just let him go before-what the?!" Shadow blinked a couple of times when he realized that there were hands coming out from the floor which he stood. In a flash, they all grabbed Shadow's both legs, causing him unable to move.

"Right, and as if I am going to let you stop me this early," Mephiles chuckled as he increased his absorption power. To Dark Sonic, it felt as if thousands of injections were placed all over his entire body and were sucking out his blood one at a time. The process seemed to get more painful by the second and everything seemed to go all blurry from dizziness.

Shadow quickly tried to struggle himself free by turning on his hover shoes to their highest levels to create the massive heating effect. When that didn't work out too well, he started to kick, spin, punch, used all sorts of chaos attacks he could think of (except for chaos blast since he could harm his allies) but nothing seemed to perfectly get rid of Mephiles' clones!

_'These things just got more annoying ever since Mephiles got extra powers from Black Doom,'_ Shadow gritted his teeth but didn't give up. He had to get free before something even more horrible happens to his beloved Sonic.

"Who knew a goodie hero could even possess delicious amount of dark powers," Mephiles licked his lips and leaned down to whisper to Dark Sonic, "Aren't you proud of what you are capable of?"

No words came out from Dark Sonic's mouth as he continued to shriek in pain and fear of losing his sanity for good. Dark Sonic thought his throat could rip in any second as his body kept shaking while every single muscle in his body tensed up because of this strange sensation.

_'No! I… I- I can't just l-lose like... like this!'_ Dark Sonic tried to pull himself together as he shook his head violently side to side. When the dark hedgehog managed to open his eyes just a little that showed no signs of emerald eyes, he saw Shadow having some troubles with Mephiles' clones.

"Damn these guys are really starting to piss me off!" Shadow cursed under his breath.

"And they are only going to get worse Shadow. Think about it. Just with Black Doom's inherited power, I can make my clones even more powerful than before. Imagine what I would be capable of when I gain Sonic's power as well! I would be unstoppable!" Mephiles laughed and continued to collect Dark Sonic's energies into the green chaos emerald.

"Arrrrghhhhh! S-Shadow!" Dark Sonic bit his lips to tolerate the excruciating pain until it started to bleed, "Stop him! Just use chaos blast and get this over with!"

Shadow sighed in frustration and said nothing more which ticked off Dark Sonic a little.

"I'll make it through! Just use it!"

"Actually at your condition, I don't know if you can make it through," Mephiles grinned and his arms clawed at Dark Sonic's peach colored arms.

"Shadow!"

Another voice was heard and the ultimate life form turned around just in time to see a flying red chaos emerald hurling in the air. Without thinking, Shadow placed his hand in the air in order to catch the chaos emerald. The red emerald was from none other than the ex-zone cop. Zhadow just gave off a stoic look to Shadow before silently turning his head back to Zonic's corpse.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow raised the red emerald and chanted the word. Just then, everything around the black hedgehog stopped, including Mephiles' clones. Shadow quickly pulled himself from their grasp and used another chaos control to appear right in front of Mephiles and Dark Sonic who also seemed to be frozen in time as well. Shadow knew that this chaos control trick wasn't going to last long. He swiftly freed Dark Sonic from Mephiles' clutch and carried him in a bridal style safely in his arms. When Shadow was about to grab for the green chaos emerald which was now glowing with dark aura, he saw Mephiles launching another crystal attack.

"How did you cancel chaos control so quickly?!" yelled Shadow as he jumped back, still holding on to Dark Sonic who was now unconscious. The surrounding and the time itself became normal and Mephiles only laughed at perplexed ultimate life form.

"I can do a lot of things that are probably impossible for you now, Shadow," said Mephiles as he picked up the green emerald from the ground. "But I have everything that I need right here and must be on my way."

"Where the hell do you think you're going?!" Shadow barked but even the black hedgehog knew that he was not in a good condition to take on Mephiles who possessed combination of Black Doom's power and possibly Dark Sonic's powers as well.

"Don't worry Shadow, I'll come for you very soon." Mephiles opened a new portal behind him and gently walked backward while keeping his eyes on to Shadow's, "When I do see you next time… trust me, it will be the last time you'll breathe on this planet. Oh and by the way, you can keep that red chaos emerald since I actually have some sympathy towards you," Mephiles said with sarcasm and soon enough, the black and green hedgehog vanished.

"Ha…. What just…. happened," murmured Shadow as his ears dropped down in exhaustion but resting wasn't going to come soon when he felt Dark Sonic waking up.

"Mephiles?! Where's Mephiles?!" Dark Sonic's eyes opened but did not reveal any sight of emerald colored pupils.

"Calm down," stated Shadow but he received a sharp punch from Dark Sonic instead which caused him to release him to the ground.

"Where are you Mephiles! Come on and fight me right now!" Dark Sonic screamed and stomped his foot.

"Hey Faker, show's over for now. He left while you were unconscious," Shadow muttered but didn't receive any answer from his boyfriend.

"You think you can just kill my friend and hide like that?!" Dark Sonic squeezed out all the powers he had left in his small body, "Come out and let's fight for real!"

"Stop releasing your damn energies all at once!" Shadow now lost his temper, "Do you want to collapse and die perhaps?!"

"I want to wipe that stupid smirk off your face and break you with no mercy!"

"You're acting foolish, stop it right now," Shadow gritted his teeth but received a cold glare from Dark Sonic when he turned around.

"You think I'm going to take orders from someone I don't know?" Dark Sonic raised his eye ridge with a sadistic smile on his face as he approached Shadow, "Sure why not. I can release my anger on you first since you even look like that Mephiles anyways."

Shadow had that blank moment before he mentally slapped himself to come to the reality, "What are you talking about? Sonic it's_ me!_ Did you have some brain damage when you were out cold?!" The black hedgehog tried to reason but Dark Sonic was clearly not listening at all.

"Only the weak talks and I-" Dark Sonic appeared in front of Shadow, "am not one of those weaklings!"

Dark Sonic was about to used his right hand to punch Shadow but the ultimate life form quickly dodged it and pushed the dark hedgehog harshly to the floor.

"Don't tell me you lost yourself sanity, Sonic!" Shadow managed to pin Dark Sonic to the ground.

"Stop calling me Sonic!" Dark Sonic's legs were still free and he used them to kick the black hedgehog in the stomach.

"…Tsk….!" Shadow winced in pain but refused to let Dark Sonic go, "What has got into you?!"

"Obviously, I'm not kicking you hard enough!" Dark Sonic screamed and released another full blown kick straight into Shadow's stomach and laughed at the same time, "Had enough yet?"

"Listen to me! Mephiles used some of his energy to trigger you to transform! Maybe that's why you're acting like this!"

"Like I said, I," Dark Sonic kicked again, "Don't" kicking for the second time, "Listen," kicked for the third time, "To Anyone! Especially someone that looks like Mephiles! How do I know if you're not working for Mephiles? Huh?!"

"Don't you know who you're talking to?" Shadow had his eyes shut tightly while trying to tolerate the pain in his stomach. Shadow knew that since Sonic was born as a runner, even though the blue hero might lack some upper strength, his leg muscles were incredible. Every time when Dark Sonic kicked him towards the center of his body, Shadow felt like his rib cages were shattering into pieces while his stomach acid churned all over.

"Hell, like I care," Dark Sonic smirked and started to laugh since he enjoyed watching the hedgehog above him suffer like that. "I got to give a credit to you though, you can handle my kicks pretty well."

"You really are an annoying hedgehog," Shadow coughed and felt some blood coming up from the back of his throat. "You can't even recognize me? The hedgehog who you damn confessed to?"

"Stop playing games with me and let me go before I kill you off for real!" Dark Sonic growled, "I want to fight Mephiles and if you're stopping me from achieving my goal then you'll regret this!"

Even though Shadow had to admit, he was a little heartbroken since Sonic didn't seem to recognize him, he figured it was not Sonic's fault. Shadow wanted to slap the sense out of Sonic but using his hands were not an option since they were occupied to keep Dark Sonic secured to the ground. With mixture of irritation and tiredness, Shadow decided to try a new approach.

"Sonic," Shadow sighed as he leaned down to rest his head onto Dark Sonic's shoulder who gave out a surprised face expression, "Ha… look, I'm tired…. I really am. Just come back to that old hyperactive blue hedgehog I love before I really get pissed off…" Shadow trailed off as he hesitantly placed a short but gentle kiss on to Dark Sonic's cheek and closed his eyes, hoping for the best.

Dark Sonic was still on the floor but didn't even bother to kick Shadow off from him this time. Even when he felt the black hedgehog's head resting on his shoulder, Dark Sonic remained motionless as he thought about what Shadow said over and over again. The weight of Shadow's body on top of Dark Sonic felt strangely comfortable and the brief kiss reminded the dark hedgehog how much he really loved Shadow from the bottom of his heart. Slowly, there were signs of faint emerald eyes as they became more visible. The dark aura around Dark Sonic faded away and the color of the quills started to alter back to the mundane blue.

"Shadow," Sonic quietly whispered as the memories of his previous behavior flashed back to his mind including him kicking Shadow, "I-I don't know what to say."

"You already did," Shadow answered as he gently raised his body upwards.

"I.. uh… what?" Sonic's emerald eyes matched with Shadow's ruby ones.

"You said Shadow. Good enough," Shadow shrugged and stood up from Sonic to give him a hand. As soon as the blue hedgehog took Shadow's hand and got himself off from the ground, he quickly launched himself onto Shadow in order to hug him. The ultimate life form smirked at Sonic's childish action but didn't deny it as he wrapped one of his hands around Sonic's waist to return the embrace.

~~~0~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~

"Zonic," Sonic swallowed hard before speaking again, "Is he really… you know." Sonic couldn't finish the last sentence as his ears folded in sadness.

Zhadow continued to cry while holding carefully on to Zonic's cold body, wanting to punish himself severely for letting this happen to someone whom he loved so much. While Sonic watched Zhadow weeping, it was hard not to show some tears as his eyes became watery.

"He can't be gone," Zhadow muttered between cries, "He just can't! It's not fair! It's just not fair!"

The blue hero lowered himself to observe Zonic closer but quickly regretted doing that. There were dried tear marks all over the head zone cop's face and the wound on his right side of the chest was a lot gory than how Sonic imagined it before. Sonic glanced at Zhadow's hand which was intertwined at Zonic's lifeless hand and this brought another stinging pain to Sonic's heart.

The ultimate life from watched both Zhadow and Sonic's behaviors from the back. Shadow also wanted to cry and curse Mephiles for bringing an unfortunate death onto Zonic. Not to mention tricking Zhadow which was probably what caused Zhadow to quit his duty as a zone cop and segregate himself from Zonic in the beginning.

Zonic was also one of those hedgehogs that Shadow gave a lot of his respect to since they got along pretty well as friends. Zonic's serious personality was somewhat similar to Shadow's so the black hedgehog didn't have any problem interacting with the head zone cop.

But Shadow tried his hardest to not show any tears.

What good will it bring to everyone if he also starts to break down and cry even though it was so tempting? It could make Zhadow's situation worse and who knows, the blue hero might start crying just because he sees Shadow crying. Also, somebody had to stay strong and pull everything together before things got way out of hand. As much as Shadow hated it, it looked like he had to take that position and make efficient decisions without letting his emotion consume him.

"Come one, Faker," Shadow tried to lighten the mood although it was hard for him since he was devastated by Zonic's death as well, "Zonic would have liked if you stayed cocky and hyperactive," said Shadow as he placed his arm around Sonic's shoulder as a quick comfort before letting him go.

"And Zhadow," Shadow turned to the ex-zone cop who continued to shed tears in his eyes, "I'm sorry."

Zhadow just shook his head but remained silent.

"Whatever you do, don't blame yourself, Zhadow." Sonic finally decided to speak after he dried his small amount of tears. "Mephiles brainwashed you, man. It's not your fault."

"This guilt will stay with me forever," Zhadow muttered as he stroked Zonic's cheek.

"Sonic!" A high female voice was heard and nobody turned around as Amy approached. "I was able to evacuate everyone after some yelling and swinging my hammer and… wait… what's with the mood guys? And why is Zonic taking a nap?" Amy tilted her head in confusion.

"Amy," Sonic quickly went next to Amy before she might say something that can anger Zhadow, "Zonic... didn't make it," whispered the blue hedgehog.

"What do you mean he didn't make it?" asked Amy as she peaked at the head zone cop but noticed that his chest didn't give any movement from breathing. "Sonic! No! Don't tell me Zonic is dead?!" The pink hedgehog covered her mouth and fell to her knee in shock.

"Staying here might only cause unwanted attention," Shadow tried to be rational and not let his emotional side ruin his judgment, "We have to go back to No Zone and…" Shadow paused and took a deep breath, "Inform them the news."

Everyone watched as Zhadow weakly took out his own dimensional gun and opened a portal that was directed towards No Zone. Sonic and Amy hopped into the portal first while Shadow waited for Zhadow to go in.

"You take Zonic," Zhadow said weakly, "I don't deserve to go back to No Zone with him. I should make myself useful and track down Mephiles on my own."

"And get yourself killed?" Shadow narrowed his eyes, "Zonic would have appreciated if you stayed with him. You know that."

"…" Zhadow sighed for the second time.

"Zonic loved you and that's why he couldn't harm you every time when he had the chance," said Shadow as he pointed to the portal.

Zhadow gently picked up Zonic as if he was a fragile object and entered the portal first before Shadow entered as well.

~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Back to No Zone**

"When do you think our boss is returning from the mission?" Zector scratched his head as he organized paper piles in his desk.

"I just hope he's not in a bad mood once he comes back," Zespio sighed, "You know how he hates that carnival looking world. It's a complete nightmare for our boss."

"Or he could loosen up a little and maybe have some fun! That Sonic prime really looks like he knows how to party!" laughed Zector.

"Hm, I doubt that's going to be the case, Zector."

"Zespio, you're also the one that needs to loosen up like our boss." The green crocodile narrowed his eyes and placed one of his hands on to his hips.

"I know how to have fun if I want to." Zespio fought back and walked over to Zector's table who just started to laugh.

"Hahaha good one! You can tell that joke to our boss, maybe he'll like it!"

Just then, the entrance door opened and two zone cops saw four hedgehogs coming in and one of them carefully carried Zonic who looked as if he was asleep.

"What?!" Zector yelled when he realized that Zhadow, the hedgehog who quit his career as a zone cop and joined the villain, had Zonic in his arms.

"What's wrong with our boss and what in the world is our wanted criminal doing here?" Zespio pointed his gun in front of Zhadow who continued to show stoic expression.

"You guys stop!" Sonic quickly dashed to the center but didn't have the heart to tell other zone cops the tragic news.

"Sonic prime, why are you defending Zhadow?" Zespio frowned a little and lowered his weapon down.

"And what's wrong with our boss?!" Zector joined.

Sonic only looked down to his red shoes and bit his lips a little, trying very hard to hide the miserable face expression. Zhadow also remained silent and only had his eyes glued to Zonic while Amy was oblivious to the whole situation since she was not there to witness the fight scene at all.

"Isn't anyone going to talk here?" Zector started to lose his patience, "Come on boss, say something!"

"This is going to be difficult to listen so pay attention," Shadow took a step forward and decided to take care of the situation. He actually didn't want to be one sharing the death news but it looked like Sonic and Zhadow would just stay quiet. The ultimate life form had a feeling that if he didn't speak now then this situation would get more frustrating.

"Shadow…" Sonic murmured his name and at the same time, felt bad that Shadow had to be the one who would explain the whole story.

_'This is going to one painful hour,'_ Shadow thought to himself and started from the beginning of the story of how they visited the Night Carnival Zone and Zonic decided to come along. Shadow gave an apologize to Zector and Zespio saying that he shouldn't have left Zonic alone when he, Sonic and Amy went to the second floor to look for the chaos emerald. The black hedgehog told the brief battle scene where he stuttered a couple of times because of flashing images of Zonic's death replaying over his head.

Shadow reminded Zector and Zespio that Zhadow's past behavior was controlled by Mephiles and he should not be punished for it. When the ultimate life form noticed that Zespio was going to ask him a question probably regarding Zonic, Shadow quickly took a deep breath and repeated once again that Zonic really was confirmed dead.

During Shadow's explanation, there were some zone cops who overheard and soon enough, the whole facility was filled with the news of Zonic's death and Zhadow's return.

When Shadow finally finished his part, Sonic realized that they were surrounded by numerous amounts of zone cops in various positions with face expressions that contained any one of pure shock, melancholy, anger, confusion, rage and sorrow. Some couldn't accept the fact that their unbeatable boss was no longer with them while others sent callous glances to Zhadow and blamed him for this result.

"I bet this is all Zhadow's fault! Why don't we just arrest him right now?!" shouted an intern zone cop while some others agreed.

"We have to avenge our boss's death! Let's use Zhadow as an example to show that Mephiles guy what happens if you mess with us!" Another weeping voice was heard from the crowd.

"Either way, we have to take care of Zhadow first!"

"No you guys stop!" Sonic tried to receive everyone's attention, "Didn't you guys even listen to what Shadow said? Zhadow shouldn't get any blame for this!"

"It's his fault that he got mind controlled from the start with!" Another squirrel zone cop shouted with his finger pointing directly at Zhadow, "He doesn't even have the right to touch our boss at this moment!"

"Oh right, it's his fault that he gotused!" Sonic rolled his eyes with frustration, "That's a pretty good analysis."

"Are you making fun of me, Sonic prime?" The same zone cop gritted his teeth.

"Maybe I'm just _trying_ to teach you to think before you talk, pal." Sonic also revealed a hint of anger even though there was a forceful grin on his muzzle.

"Sonic, I'm scared…" Amy ran behind Sonic and shivered a little.

"Quiet! All of you!" Shadow stomped his hover skate to the metal floor which made a loud echo noise across the entire facility building. The black hedgehog pinched the patch of skin between his eyes as he exhaled a huge amount of stress all at once.

"Look, this is a catastrophic event for you guys and believe me, it was devastating for us as well including Zhadow," said Shadow as he tried to maintain his posture, "But this is really not the time to argue and act like bunch of children. Who's the second in command after Zonic?" Shadow raised his voice and looked around the crowd of zone cops.

There was a couple minutes of silence. Few were a little frightened at Shadow because of his famous title of the ultimate life form while some were confused at the whole situation of another black hedgehog taking over the scenario.

"Well," Zector opened his mouth as he scratched his head a little, "Second in command was used to be… Zhadow but…. Uh…. now it's Zespio."

"First of all, I want you to keep Zhadow in your team because I know that is what Zonic would have wanted," said Shadow as he focused his attention to the purple chameleon, "He doesn't have to receive the same position that he had before but you guys need to have him in your team. Mephiles became a lot stronger and I mean hell of a lot stronger and there is a chance that he might strike at this place again."

Shadow looked around the room to make sure he had complete attention before he continued.

"Second, we need to hold a funeral or some kind of memorial event for Zonic. Finally, in order to stop Mephiles and make him pay for what he did to Zonic, Sonic and I need to continue to collect more chaos emeralds," said Shadow and presented the red chaos emerald. "There is another chaos emerald that Zonic put away in a security room in this building. Every time when we collect a chaos emerald, we will bring it here for safe keeping. Zonic told me that the security room is able to keep the chaos energy of the emerald low so Mephiles might not have any idea that it's here which is a plus for us. Every time when we bring the chaos emerald to you guys, I want everyone in this No Zone to guard it with their lives. We don't know exactly how many emeralds Mephiles has so we can't risk losing more."

"So we're not going to carry the emeralds with us?" asked Sonic.

"I think this is a safer route. If we carry emeralds then there is a higher possibility that Mephiles could snatch it away from us since his clones are powerful than before," Shadow recalled the battle he had with those annoying yet durable clones that Mephiles upgraded.

"Cool, but I think we should carry one with us so you can use chaos control. Hiding it behind your quills will do, hehheh." Sonic winked and before Shadow had the chance to reply to the blue hero, he heard the same squirrel zone cop retorting back.

"And tell us _why_ we should listen to you?" The zone cop hissed under his breath, "You're not the leader of this facility! You can't just expect us to follow your stupid plan!"

"That's why I asked for the second in command," Shadow looked back at Zespio again, "Do you agree with everything that I said?"

Zespio carefully thought about the plan that Shadow shared with everyone and it sounded reasonable and legit. He knew how much Zonic cared about Zhadow so allowing the ex-zone cop to work with the rest of the zone cop was not a problem. It would actually be beneficial to everyone since Zhadow, right below Zonic, was the most powerful and not to mention the most skilled zone cop in the whole headquarters. Zespio also knew Shadow's reputation mostly from Zonic so trust was there between them.

"Okay, you have my permission. We will proceed with what Shadow said," Zespio concluded.

"What?! No!" screamed the squirrel zone cop, "I say we give the level G-5 punishment for Zhadow and go get Mephiles ourselves! I bet these guys couldn't handle Mephiles because they are too weak and senseless!"

"Watch your language," Shadow warned the cop as he folded his arms.

"You think your so tough, acting like you're the leader." In a flash, the squirrel zone cop vanished and quickly reappeared behind Shadow with his gun pointed at the top of Shadow's head. Just when he was about to pull the trigger, Shadow used his right leg to trip the insolent zone cop instantly smashed the zone cop against the metal wall. With his gloved hand raised in the air, Shadow released a full blast of chaos spears. The chaos energy was targeted right above the squirrel's helmet.

"You should really think first before you do anything else," Shadow reminded the zone cop of what Sonic said. "Zonic was important to me as well so don't you _dare_ believe that I didn't think about the plan thoroughly."

"This may seem sudden but we will be following what Shadow said," Zespio quickly made the announcement, "We will first hold a funeral for our boss for his bravery and sacrifice tonight. After showing our respect to him, we will have a meeting to organize this situation we have in our hands."

There were few mumbling and talking among groups of zone cops but in the end, everyone came in an union although there were few complaints. Zespio then sent everyone away in order to prepare a high quality funeral for Zonic.

"I think you guys can use this time to spend more time with our boss before the funeral starts," Zespio then turned to Zector, "Can you show them the large guest room?"

"You sure you guys don't need any help?" Sonic raised his eye ridge but Zespio quickly shook his head.

"No need," Zespio replied and allowed Zector to take Sonic, Shadow, Zhadow and Amy to the guest room along with Zonic's body.

Once everyone arrived to the guest room, Zhadow gently placed the head zone cop's body to the green colored bed while Sonic warmly placed his hand on to Shadow's shoulder.

"Shadow, I can't thank you enough," Sonic carefully spoke to the black hedgehog who completely looked stressed out and exhausted.

"What for?" Shadow grumbled and Sonic traced his hand from Shadow's shoulder down to the black hedgehog's gloved hand and intertwined their hand together.

"For taking care of the whole situation while we were all emotionally traumatized from… well you know," Sonic closed his eyes and opened them again, "Thanks man, I owe you big time. Not to mention you helped me from whatever Mephiles did to me back there."

"Hmph, I just did what was necessary, that's all," Shadow answered and felt Sonic's hand tighten around his hand and the black hedgehog couldn't help but to blush a little at the tender feeling. Even though Sonic didn't say anything, Shadow was able to feel Sonic's apology and the concern. The black hedgehog also placed some strength onto their holding hands and Sonic tried his best to hide the smile that was slowly forming on his lips.

Amy continued to stand in the corner who was still amazed that there was another dead body in this same guest room. Shadow and Sonic's gripping hands were hidden behind their back so there was no way that the pink hedgehog would have known. At the same time, the rest of the male hedgehogs didn't speak to each other as they silently replayed Zonic's death scene in their memories. Zhadow finally understood the phrase, crying until you don't have tears anymore.

The feeling of someone so important to you dying right in front of your eyes... that painful guilt and emptiness Zhadow felt right at this moment. The ex-zone cop thought about taking his own life because it was clear to him that he didn't deserve this. Living like this everyday knowing that he caused Zonic's confusion, suffering and not to mention a broken heart, Zhadow didn't really want to live anymore. Maybe being arrested and taking the punishment might not be a bad idea?

After what seemed like an eternity, Shadow decided to break the silence in the room.

"I remember when you died Sonic," Shadow carefully took out the topic, "That girl was able to bring you back mixing the power of the seven chaos emeralds and some kind of prayer. But from what I can hardly remember, she was able to retrieve you because your spirit was still near us in the wind."

Even though Zhadow didn't know too much of the detail, the mention of the seven chaos emerald perked up his ears.

"Let's say if that is possible. Even if we collect seven chaos emeralds, how are we going to find someone who knows how to revive someone using emeralds?" asked Zhadow as he gently touched Zonic's corpse next to him. "I think Zonic's so called spirit is long way gone." **(Helper: So the reason why they are not thinking about Elise to help is because Elise was able to do it because Sonic's spirit was still "with" them in the wind while Zonic's spirit is long way gone.) **

"Merlina!" Sonic clapped his hand once.

"The.. who?" Both Shadow and Zhadow repeated at the same time.

"She's this cool wizard who knows all sorts of ancient magics and spells! She's also the one who summoned me into the Arthurian storybook realm. I bet she can help us with this problem!"

"Wait Sonic! So you weren't lying to when you completely forgot about our date?" Amy finally spoke and came next to the blue hero.

"Amy, how many times do I have to tell you," Sonic sighed, "I really did enter the black knight world! Why would I lie something about that."

"How come I wasn't informed about this, Sonic?" Shadow narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, this happened long after the Black Doom incident," Sonic then playfully teased Shadow, "I bet you want to see how awesome I am with my _sword,_ huh Shadow?"

Shadow felt his face heating up a little when he heard Sonic's twist in word usage but successfully manage to control himself.

"I could say you read my mind," Shadow grinned as he was a little cheered up that there might be a possibility to revive Zonic. "So should we hurry and find this person named Merlina and ask if she can perform her trick?"

"Let's go for it! What do we have got to lose?" Sonic jumped up and down with excitement when a small spark of possibility came.

"I wish to come and help but I think it's better to have my presence with Zonic for now," Zhadow quickly stated with depressed expression. Before Sonic and Shadow had the chance to say anything to comfort Zhadow, the ex-zone cop opened his mouth again. "But before you guys leave to another zone, I have to tell you guys Mephiles' plan and what he plans to do with chaos emeralds."

"You know his plan?" Sonic gasped, "Dude! That's so awesome!"

"Well, he was working with Mephiles unwillingly," Shadow commented.

"Uh yeah but I thought he wouldn't remember those now that his memory is back to normal or..something like that," Sonic scratched his ear with a slight skeptical look on his face.

"That's not how memories work," Shadow narrowed his eyes and Sonic just twitched his ears in response.

"Well sorry! I'm not professional in amnesia and memory stuff like you and Zhadow," Sonic raised his hands in defeat.

"Do you guys want me to tell you or not?" Zhadow finally decided to cut their conversation since it was getting out of topic. Sonic and Shadow quickly turned their attention to the ex-zone cop and nodded at the same time in order for him to continue. "Mephiles is planning something…. big. It has something to do with chaos emeralds, Black Doom and also Sonic prime's dark energy."

As Shadow and Sonic began to listen to the whole background story from Zhadow, they did not like what they were hearing. The problem just seemed to get bigger and bigger since now they have another important mission added other than to stop Mephiles. Find hopes for Zonic.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Camelot or the Arthur World! (Woot Black Knight!) **

"Lancelot~" called the blue hedgehog with a small yellow crown and a light royal robe, "Sorry, but can you fetch me my armor? I forgot I was invited to visit Avalon in order to retrieve this blue diamond looking object."

Without any seconds to lose, the black hedgehog who wore metal armor suite and a helmet that covered his eyes, quickly skated to the large closet and brought items he was ordered to bring. When the black hedgehog named Lancelot came back to the main chamber, he placed armors and Excalibur, also known for its talking ability, gently on the floor. Excalibur was currently asleep since it was still early in the morning.

"Here you go Your Majesty," Lancelot quickly bowed and quietly waited for his next command.

"Come on, Lancelot," King Sonic rolled his emerald colored eyes and jumped down from the throne while leaving his royal robe there as well, "It's been two weeks that we started our affair and you still go all formal on me?"

Lancelot immediately blushed when the king said the specific word affair. He was glad that the helmet was still on in order to cover his embarrassment.

"…But Sire," Lancelot carefully opened his mouth but King Sonic quickly raised his index finger.

"At least call me by nick name, Sonic." The blue hedgehog tried to reason with Lancelot.

King Sonic's real name is actually Arthur but there was a time when Lancelot joked with the king, saying that he should be called Sonic instead of Arthur because of his naturally talent in speed unlike Lancelot who was gifted with hover shoes which were enhanced by magic.

Ever since the blue hedgehog heard that special nick name, he wanted to use the name Sonic more than Arthur. Most people in the kingdom still refer to him as King Arthur but the blue hedgehog asked Lancelot to call him, Sonic. Lancelot thought it would be very unprofessional of him to call His Majesty, Sonic.

"Or if you think that's too informal for you then use the title King Sonic," said the hedgehog who resembled our blue hero when he noticed that Lancelot was feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Sire, I mean… King Sonic," Lancelot finally stood up from his knee, "Please do not misunderstand what I am about to say. I do treasure and care about out affair very much since my love for you will never die but… don't you think this is a little risky? I mean, the great king of Camelot having an affair with his most trusted knight? Maybe we should just end it here before we go deeper."

King Sonic's eyes narrowed in slight frustration as he tapped his foot.

"And as the great king of Camelot, I order you, Lancelot, to continue to keep your affair with me," King Sonic smiled and placed his hand on the knight's shoulder, "Don't worry Lancelot, if people find out, what are they going to do? The worst that can happen is maybe some shocks here and there and maybe a few derogatory actions but I think it's worth it."

"I won't be happy to see that," Lancelot argued back.

"Then we better do a good job keeping it a secret then, right my knight?" King Sonic tapped the black hedgehog's shoulder before releasing him.

"Ha…. I understand Sire. I will try my best to keep things under darkness." Lancelot showed a weak smile but that was the only thing that King Sonic was able to see since the knight's whole facial expression was under the helmet aside from his lips. The blue hedgehog looked around his chamber room and smirked when he realized that nobody was in the room. He walked a little closer to Lancelot and raised mental the helmet to see a blushing black hedgehog looking right back at him with ruby colored eyes.

"You shouldn't wear your helmet too much when I'm around Lancelot," chuckled the king as he leaned down to gently give a soft kiss on the knight's lips. "Then I can't do this too often."

"I-I'll keep then in mind, My Lord," Lancelot stuttered and his knees felt weak just from a simple affection from his king. "You won't be needing my accompany, King Sonic?" The knight tried to change the topic to regain this composure.

"Eh, it's fine," said King Sonic as he waved his hand, "I'm not some princess who always needs protection you know. I can fight just like my entire Knight of the Round Table!" The blue hedgehog laughed. "It's only a simple retrieval mission and the king of Avalon wanted to speak to me regarding how to train new incoming knights. And besides, it's not like Camelot is in any battle state so I'm sure me leaving the castle for one day is not going to hurt."

"Yes but… are you sure you don't need my assistance?" Lancelot tilted his head when he asked his question.

"Don't worry about it Lancelot," King Sonic then gave out a devious little grin, "Or could it be that you find your king irresistible and perhaps want to spend every awaking seconds with me?" King Sonic began to tease his knight.

"Don't flatter yourself too much, Sonic," Lancelot mimicked his king's expression and King Sonic pulled away with a hint of chuckle. There were rare moments when his knight would just address him informally by calling only by the nick name without any royal title which didn't bother the blue hedgehog. In fact, King Sonic thought it was adorable when his knight suddenly tried to act all tough by breaking the knight's code.

"I expect to have my knight's full attention to his king as a punishment," said the blue hedgehog, "That is when I come back from this little trip."

The king gave a peak on Lancelot's tan muzzle and in response, the knight also took King Sonic's hand and placed his lips as a symbol of being a faithful knight until death separates them. After feeling some butterflies in his stomach from Lancelot's affection, the royal hedgehog pointed at the armor and sleeping Excalibur on the floor.

"Enough with our romance pritheem Lancelot. Help me to put my armor up before Excalibur wakes up and see what we're doing," King Sonic giggled and his knight nodded in an agreement.

**Since my next update won't happen for around 4~5 weeks because of midterms coming up T^T The preview for next chapter is slightly longer!**

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**Next Chapter: Welcome back to Camelot**

As Shadow and Sonic walked together in the land of Camelot, they passed by various types of shops that mainly had all sorts of fruits, vegetables, breads, juices and more! Sonic just looked around like a child who was on a field trip while Shadow also had his eyes on one of the bread making store. Two bakers appeared to be twin lizards worked together to bake the break. One was working on the fire while the other one placed uncooked breads into the old oven. Shadow thought it was fascinating to see how the bread was made.

To be honest, the ultimate life form never went grocery shopping so eating a loaf of bread was something that he never experienced. He saw Sonic eating a lot of bread or... more like buns because of his chili dog addiction so it must be good... right?

The ultimate life form unknowingly walked near the bread making store and stared at two bakers.

"Yo Shadow!" Sonic called out and came next to his boyfriend. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," Shadow replied and turned away but the blue hedgehog grabbed his hand and turned Shadow back to facing the bread store.

"Awww, don't tell me my little baby Shadow is hungry?" Sonic pretended to talk to a small child and Shadow gave him the death glare. Shadow then immediately tightened his hand around Sonic's hand. The pressure was of course, hurting Sonic.

"Owowowowoowowowow!" Sonic bit his lips.

Shadow pulled the blue hedgehog to his chest and whispered into Sonic's ear.

"Now, what did you call me just now,_ sweetie?_" Shadow smirked and felt a small blood vessel on his head forming.

"Sorry Shadow! I was just playing around with you!" Sonic screamed and Shadow quickly released his hand.

"Thought so," Shadow smiled and gently massaged Sonic's hand in return. But Sonic's screaming also gained attention from the two bakers.

"King Arthur!" said the lizard.

"Your Majesty!" other lizard bowed his head.

Sonic just scratched his back quills in response while Shadow was confused as ever.

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**There! I hope you guys liked the little Black Knight Scene! I think Lancelot and King Sonic (Arthur) wouldn't play a huge role like Zonic and Zhadow but they will be coming out few chapters! Haha and yeah, I made them a couple from the beginning. Two weeks old couple! I am shipping all versions of Sonic and Shadow now that I think about it hehhehheh XD Anyways, hope you guys liked this chapter!**

**I am predicting that the next chapter will come in...4~5weeks this time. Sorry T^T But I started school again and yeah... midterms are coming up already... grrah! I'll probably upload once my first rounds of midterms are over! **

**This is around 8,000 words! Woah!**

**I hope you guys liked it and please review but I don't need to say that because you guys are too cool and cool people review O.o - me and my weird logic lol XP**


	25. How to De-Stress Shadow in Sonic Version

**Yay I kept my promise! Remember I said I will upload after 5 weeks? Well here it is!**

**Thank you so much for lovely reviews! I would really want to reply to them but I'll be honest after the whole midterms season I got really tired and after I finished writing this story I wanted to watch a movie or something to take my mind off from dreadful testing season T_T**

**So I will reply to reviewers in the next chapter sorry about that... please forgive me! hehheh**

**But I do hope you guys will enjoy this extra fluffy chapter! Fluffy fluffy cute chapter!**

**Now I am going to relax a little... ah.. so tired...**

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Before you read check out these cool fan artworks! These artists from DeviantArt are just straight out amazing! hehheh

***Artist: Larka-Lover**

**title: Zhadow,Shadow and Lancelot...**

Kyah thank you so so so much! The readers have to read this because it is the combination of Shadow, Zhadow and Lancelot! Who doesn't want to see that?! XD I really love how they are all chilling and talking about their relationship.. all different versions of Sonic haha. I think I also liked to see the overall picture where Lancelot seems to be slightly shy about his affair with "king Sonic" while Zhadow and Shadow are like "Don't worry we all go through the same thing 3" hehhe thank you so I heart you!

*** Artist: Eli-the-hedgehog**

**title: CFYR- Jealous**

**and**

**CFYR- Zonic's Death**

Okay I don't know how to thank you enough! One beautiful artwork is enough but two?! I was so happy when I received them from you! Now for the first one, I just laughed when I saw Zonic and Shadow's interaction, wanting to play a devious prank on poor Sonic. Speaking of Sonic, awww he is stuck with Amy! Sonic looks like he is panicking so much but I do love his little worry face XD Cute at the same time hehheh. Now for Zonic's Death T_T All I wanted to say is nooo! Zonic! (lol funny because I was the one that killed Zonic in the story... haha don't throw rocks at me! DX) But I thought you did a great no I mean a perfect job capturing his death scene especially the face expression and the way Mephiles killed Zonic! By looking at the artwork, it looks really painful at the same time T_T Why did I kill Zonic! feeling guilty now haha but really thank you so much!

*** Artist: HikariAngelJaki**

**title: Confession-Caring for Your Rival**

** and**

** Caring for Your Rival**

Awwww it was really sweet of you to take your time and do two lovely fanart of this story T_T I can't thank you ebough I must cry of joy now. (sobs with happiness in the corner before coming back hahaha XD) BUt thank you and thank you again! I think I remember expressing my gratitude through the deviant art as well hehheh First of all I thought the confession artwork was just too adorable! For those who are curious it is the famous sene where Sonic and Shadow share their first kiss in the shower hehheh Sonic looks too happy and blissful in that picture it looks too cute! Also for the artwork named Caring for Your Rival oh wow.. I really love how creative you can get! I love how Mephiles is all in the center of the artwork because he is the main villain after all! Zonic and Zhadow are all off to the side because they still didn't reunite yet and then there is Sonic and Shadow kyuu! so cute thank you so much I really love it!

* * *

What Zhadow had to tell was terrifying to both Sonic and Shadow as they continued to listen. They learned about Mephiles' plan on temporarily working with Black Doom in order to inherit more destructive powers.

"So Black Doom needs five chaos emeralds to resurrect his Black Arms and invade the earth again, right?" asked Shadow while Sonic continued to remain silent.

"Correct and so far Black Doom and Mephiles have four emeralds. If they have one more… that would be a huge problem for us," said Zhadow. "But Mephiles doesn't plan to stick around with Black Doom for too long."

"What do you mean?" Shadow raised his eye ridge in confusion.

"Scourge and I heard Mephiles saying that he is only using Black Doom for his personal interest. For all I know, he plans to mix Black Doom's power along with Sonic prime's dark energies to create... deadly energies that even you, ultimate life form, cannot handle," Zhadow warned as his grip on Zonic's lifeless hand tightly.

"We can't afford to lose anymore emeralds," Shadow gritted his teeth and let out a deep sigh.

"Emerald is important but we have to talk to Merlina first about Zonic," Sonic finally decided to speak up between two black hedgehogs.

"Sonic prime maybe it's best if you guys go find the next emerald instead of finding this person name Merlina…"

"No Zhadow! Friend is more important in a time like this and the sooner the better. Right Shadow?" Sonic turned to face the ultimate life form, hoping that his boyfriend would agree.

"Sonic's right. We want to see if it is possible to save Zonic first before we pursue more emeralds."

"If there is another emerald in Camelot, it would be killing two birds with one stone," Sonic tapped his lips with his gloved finger, "Time to contact Tails again!"

After Sonic managed to contact Tails about where the location of the next emerald might be, the blue hedgehog decided to keep the death of Zonic a secret. He didn't want to make another friend cry because of the death news. To Sonic's luck, a blue emerald happened to be located somewhere in the Camelot and everyone, including Zhadow for once, smiled in joy. Now they would be able to meet Merlina and retrieve the emerald before Mephiles gets his hand on it first.

"Let's hurry and go. Don't want to waste more time!" said Sonic as Zhadow opened the portal that led to Camelot dimension with his gun.

"Do you guys need another dimensional gun to travel back to No Zone?" asked Zhadow but Sonic shook his head.

"Eh it's cool. Once we find another chaos emerald in Camelot, Shadow and I'll have two emeralds since Shadow would be bringing one emerald along. We would be able to use chaos control back to No Zone easy. Besides, I don't really like carrying stuff while I run so the dimensional gun might annoy me on the way." Sonic took the red chaos emerald that they got from Zonic before his death and placed it inside of Shadow's large back quills for safe keeping.

"And why do I have to carry the emerald?" asked Shadow as Sonic pulled his hand out.

"Like I said, I don't like to carry stuff when I run and your quills look a lot safer! Just look at mine Shadow, they face downward so the emerald could fall off you know."

"Always playing excuses I see," Shadow smirked.

"But Sonic! I don't see why I can't follow you to Camelot! I know I can be a huge help to you!" Amy stomped her red shoes and tried to get closer to the opened portal but Zhadow stopped her from doing it.

"Well Amy, you should stay here and help with the funeral stuff since Shadow and I won't be around," explained Sonic. _'Also, I want to spend some alone time with Shadow in this mission too.'_

"Why can't Shadow stay while I go with you then! Just because I'm a girl that doesn't mean I'm weak, helpless and h-hey!"

At that moment, Sonic and Shadow decided to jump into the portal before Amy's anger got bigger by the second. Zhadow quickly closed the portal and this caused Amy to bite her lips.

"Sonic the Hedgehog this is the second time you left me alone!" Amy screamed and Zhadow simply rolled his eyes in response.

**_Camelot _**

Sonic and Shadow both walked out from the portal as they looked around to see if there was anyone nearby. The sky was blue without any clouds and the wind was particularly warmer than the weather in No Zone. Judging by the position of the sun, Shadow determined that it was still early in the afternoon. The blue hedgehog turned around and noticed that not too far away, there was a huge castle. Not to mention there was a road that lead to the small village which was probably the same route to take in order to get to the castle. It's been a while since Sonic came back to Camelot so he thought it would be best to ask someone in the castle about Merlina and where she might be living right now.

"Shadow look," called Sonic as he tapped the black hedgehog's shoulder, "Turn around man."

"I'm guessing this is the route that we should take then?" Shadow saw the road that led to the village and ultimately to the castle.

"Yup, do you want to race there?" Sonic was already stretching his leg muscles and jumping up and down but saw Shadow shaking his head.

"You can go ahead if you want. I'm not really in the mood for a race," replied Shadow with a huge sigh. The black hedgehog didn't have the intention of making Sonic upset but after all the things he just went through, the headache and the stress were killing him.

Shadow was scared when Dark Sonic started to take his Sonic's sanity away and it was hard to turn Sonic back to normal. Sure, there were some couple of kicks Shadow had to receive but it was worth it in the end. When Zonic first died, Shadow had to use all the effort he could gather in order to make efficient decisions without letting his emotion take over. Even at the zone cop facility, it was Shadow who had to calmly explain about Zonic's death, which was pretty painful, and on top of that, he had to take some leadership role to make sure other zone cops were not lost in confusion and act reckless because of their thirst for revenge.

In short, Shadow was tired both emotionally and physically.

"O-oh I mean, we don't have to run there if you don't want to," Sonic scratched one of his ear, a little disappointed that Shadow refused to his running offer. "I mean, we can walk there. It is a beautiful weather in this world anyways!" Sonic tried to be cheerful and took Shadow's hand which caused the ultimate life form to involuntarily jerk a little.

"What are you…"

"Hey, if you're not going to let e run with you, at least let me do this," said Sonic as started to walk and dragged Shadow along, "Come on, admit it. You like holding my hand as much as I do hehheh."

"….." Shadow just narrowed his eyes but quickly smiled when Sonic playfully began to swing their hands back and forth with his eyes closed.

"I know for sure that you're enjoying this so I'll take your silence as a yes, buddy."

"Who can argue with you," said Shadow as they reached the entrance of the large village. There was a wooden picket sign that had the sentence: Welcome to Camelot!

"Well, this is Camelot. Although it looks a lot more developed than the last time when I visited here," said Sonic as they both entered the village.

"What do you mean?" asked Shadow but quickly blushed when he realized he and Sonic were still holding hands. It was not like Shadow was ashamed of having the blue hero as his lover. He didn't enjoy affections especially in the public which included both friendships and relationships. Rouge once made a comment to Shadow that he acts a lot nicer when he is not in the public and Shadow couldn't disagree with that feedback. Maybe he was just shy when it comes to public in general? The black hedgehog was just too use to with presenting the world with his callous and passive personality.

"I mean, this village was pretty small before with few shops. Now it looks like a gigantic mall just in more medieval way." Sonic turned around to Shadow and noticed that the black hedgehog was looking a little uncomfortable. "We don't have to keep holding our hands in public if you're shy about it, Shadow," laughed Sonic as he quickly released their hands.

"….. I'm just not used to with doing those stuff when there are a lot of people," Shadow murmured and Sonic was able to pick up this sentence with his ears.

"Well that does explain why we kissed in _private_ places," Sonic made an air quotation marks, "Eh, don't worry about it Shadow, its cool. I'm sure you'll get used to with it at some point. Your Social anxiety will fade away eventually, right?"

"I do not have social anxiety!" Shadow argued back by slightly raising his tone.

"Social anxiety! Social anxiety!" Sonic chirped playfully, a little happy that he was able to make Shadow smile. Honestly, he doesn't remember seeing Shadow acting a little lively ever since Zonic's death so Sonic was glad he made some progress. "You're so lucky to be dating a hedgehog who is a perfect pro at interacting with great social skills."

"Right, your social skills as in that cocky attitude mixed with big ego of yours?" Shadow challenged with a grin.

"Yup, that one," Sonic chuckled as they look around. "Maybe if we find someone who knows about Merlina in this village, we don't have to go all the way to the castle."

As Shadow and Sonic walked further into the village of Camelot, they passed by various types of shops that mainly had all sorts of fruits, vegetables, breads, juices and more! Sonic just looked around like a child who was on a field trip while Shadow also had his eyes on one of the bread making store. Two bakers appeared to be twin lizards worked together to bake the bread. One was working on the fire while the other one placed uncooked breads into the old oven. Shadow thought it was fascinating to see how the bread was made. To be honest, the ultimate life form never went grocery shopping so eating a loaf of bread was something that he never experienced. He saw Sonic eating a lot of bread or... more like buns because of his chili dog addiction so it must be good... right?

"Why don't we ask that place?" Shadow pointed to the small shop that seemed to be an old bakery. Without even waiting for his partner's reply, the ultimate life form unknowingly walked near the bread making store and stared at two bakers.

"Yo Shadow, wait up!" Sonic called out and came next to his boyfriend using his speed. "What are you looking at?"

The blue hedgehog gave a quick glance at Shadow who was looking at the process of making bread with so much interest.

"Are you hungry, Shadow?" asked Sonic with a hint of teasing smile on his lips. Sonic thought about the last time when Shadow had an actual meal and it really was…never. The blue hero remember eating that Shadow's custom made chili dog, Zonic's food and not to mention the

"No" Shadow replied and turned away but the blue hedgehog grabbed his hand and turned Shadow back to facing the bread store.

"Awww, don't tell me my little baby Shadow is hungry?" Sonic pretended to talk to a small child and Shadow gave him the death glare. Shadow then immediately reached out to Sonic and tightened his hand around Sonic's hand. The pressure was of course, hurting Sonic.

"Owowowowoowowowow!" Sonic bit his lips.

Shadow pulled the blue hedgehog to his chest and whispered into Sonic's ear.

"Now, _what_ did you call me just now, _sweetie_?" Shadow smirked and felt a small blood vessel on his head forming.

"Sorry Shadow! I was just playing around with you!" Sonic screamed and Shadow quickly released his hand. Sonic really was just trying to bring Shadow back into a less grumpy mood.

"Thought so," Shadow smiled and gently massaged Sonic's hand in return. But Sonic's screaming also gained attention from the two bakers.

"King Arthur!" said the lizard.

"Your Majesty!" other lizard bowed his head.

Sonic just scratched his back quills in response while Shadow was confused as ever.

'The what? Did they just call my blue idiot a.. king?' Shadow thought to himself as he raised one of his eye ridge in confusion. 'Is it possible that there could be another alternative version of Sonic?'

"Your Majesty, it is an honor to have you visit our bakery in this fine evening," said one of the green lizard as he wiped his sweats in order to make himself presentable. "Ah and it is a pleasure to have your visit as well, Sir Lancelot."

"Yes, yes, good den my lord and our trusted Knight of the Round Table," added the purple lizard although he really wanted to ask why their "King Author" and "Sir Lancelot" were not wearing any formal clothe wears but he dared not to question them.

"Uh... what's up you guys!" Sonic waved and this caused both of the bakers to have a confused look on their faces.

"Prithee excuse me question my lord but I know not what you just asked us."

"Wait, like you guys don't know that what's up means?" asked Sonic with a playful grin.

"I also cannot understand indeed. Is this a new creation of language you just invented?" The second baker carefully questioned their king.

"Well, I can totally teach you guys what that means since it's not that hard to understand, hehheh" Sonic chuckled as he tilted his head, "So what's up is another way of greeting-"

"Pardon me but allow me to talk some senses- I mean.. have a conversation with So-" Shadow quickly shook his head, "King Arthur."

"Yes, Sir Lancelot. You not have to ask for our permission nevertheless that was very humble of you," said the lizard as he walked over to the oven in order to take out the baker's dozen.

After receiving a quick permission, Shadow grabbed Sonic's hand and walked few feet away from the bake store. Even though both hedgehogs received a lot attention from the villagers, the ultimate life form thought it would be better to quickly remind Sonic the situation that they are in first.

"Please don't' tell me you didn't catch that," Shadow rolled his eyes as he release Sonic's hand.

"Catch what?" Sonic asked with huge innocent eyes and he really was indeed, confused this time.

"Sonic, those two just called you their king," Shadow hissed and tired not to raise his voice to gather more attention than they already have. "Apparently, I think there is another blue hedgehog who is supposed to be their ruler here."

"Oh" Sonic snapped his finger, "I'm pretty sure they are referring to me!" The blue hedgehog pointed the gloved finger to himself.

"Come again?" Shadow crossed his arms and the blue hero took this as a sign to explain his opinion to the black hedgehog.

"You see, when I came to this world the first time, I think I was chosen by.. the sword... called... Caliburn? Yeah the excalibur sword and for your information, the sword can talk! Anyways, the sword picked me to be this so called King Arthur and I kinda sat on Camelot's throne for about a week before I left with the help from Merlina."

"...So you are positive that they are just greeting YOU," Shadow emphasized as he narrowed his eyes, "And are not getting mixed up with another blue hedgehog who is currently their king.. right?"

"I'm pretty sure this place didn't have another new ruler after I left," Sonic shrugged his shoulder, feeling confident that there was no any another version of himself would exist in Camelot. "I mean, I would have seen my counter part if he even existed when I first came here. But let me warn ya, there is an alternative version of you in a shiny knight in armor version... pretty cute if you ask me." Sonic gave a teasing look to his boyfriend who made an effort to stay focused on their topic.

Sonic simply thought that people are still referring to him as King Arthur since he had the Excalibur in his possession while he was in Camelot. The blue hero did faintly remember the members of Knight of the Round telling Sonic that if they cannot find another king who can rule Camelot, then one of the knights would possibly become the new king. Sonic was certain that there was no blue hedgehog in Knight of the Round Table.

Little did Sonic know that there really was another blue hedgehog who was the current ruler of this kingdom named King Arthur.

"Fine. I just thought it would be best not to interact with these people since they might think you are the other Sonic but since you said that your counter part doesn't exist in this world, this conversation is pointless now," murmured Shadow.

"But I wonder who the new ruler might be! It would be cool if Lancelot became the new king after I left, hehheh," said Sonic and at the same time, he saw one of the lizard giving a signal that he wanted to talk to him. Sonic and Shadow decided to walk over to the bakery.

"I apologize for taking up your time again, my lord," said the lizard as he took a brown bag filled with freshly baked bread, "I pray that you must try one of our new recipe! It will bring our family a huge accomplishment and joy if our king enjoy our creations."

The green lizard bowed down and raised both of his hands until Sonic reached out to grab the brown bag. As soon as he received the brown bag, Sonic felt both of his gloved hands filled with warmth and smelled the delicious bread triggering his nose. The blue hero also noticed that Shadow was literally right behind him, looking like a small child waiting for his parent's permission to take and eat one.

'Hehheh, it looks like Shadow has interest in these," Sonic gently bit his tongue just to keep himself from giggling any louder.

"Is there a problem, my lord? Perchance these do not go well with your royal taste?" Both of lizards had their tails down on the wooden floor, a little nervous that their "king" would not enjoy what they made.

"Huh? No this is great! I love it and not to mention it smells amazing!" Sonic placed a thumbs up right in front of two bakers. "Well, I really gotta go to that castle over there with my buddy, Shadow. Catch you later." Sonic winked and decided to dash off on his own. Shadow blinked a couple of seconds before skating off to the same direction that his boyfriend ran as well.

Right after Sonic and Shadow left the bakery, the two lizards were very confused.

"Did our king address his knight as... S-Shadow...?" The purple lizard stuttered at the strange name given to one of their loyal knights in Camelot.

"Tis strange how our Majesty was speaking in very foreign language, indeed," said the other lizard who continued to put new bread to the hot oven. "It is most strange but maybe our king is sensing some tiredness today."

While those bakers kept wondering about their bizarre experience with their so called King Arthur and his knight, Sonic and Shadow continued to race each other until the blue hedgehog decided to take a break in the middle of the forest.

"STOP!" Sonic yelled and Shadow instantly responded to the blue hero's request.

"I thought we were going to head straight into the castle?" asked Shadow as he looked ahead, "It should only take us few seconds to get to the front gate."

"Chill out Shadow, I know how fast we are," Sonic waved his hand, "I think you should eat before we get to the castle, that's all." Sonic then took out one of the steaming bread from the brown paper bag and handed over to Shadow. "Look! It's still warm!"

"We don't have time to eat," Shadow commented as he harshly dropped the bread onto the grass, "Let's hurry and find this wizard who can help Zonic or not."

"Shadow! How dare you drop your food to the floor like that!" Sonic used his sarcastic voice and took out another bread from the bag, "Now, do I have to feed it to you or can you at least at on your own Mr. Ultimate life form?"

"... Why are you acting like this?" Now even Shadow was a little perplexed why Sonic was suddenly acting more happy than usual, considering the circumstances right now.

"Fine, I will feed you once, only because we are dating and I find this legit," Sonic smiled teasingly and ripped a smaller portion from the bread. "Now open your mouth, Shadow~"

"Sonic, answer my damn question," said Shadow with no amusement in his face.

"I just thought you need some break. You know, time to relax?" said Sonic as he popped the bread into his mouth.

"May I remind you the reason why we are in this dimensional world in the first place? In No Zone, we have our dead friend and who knows how Zhadow is handling all the situation right now. Mephiles could be anywhere searching for the next emerald and if we don't start looking for the new emerald soon then another catastrophic event could happen. Oh and by the way, according to Zhadow, Mephiles has his dirty eyes on you because you can create dark energies that he would love to suck out more and there is no way in hell I'm going to let you go through that again and-"

"Shadow, Shadow!" Sonic dropped the whole brown bag to the floor and shook the black hedgehog until he stopped talking. When the ultimate life form finally decided to shut his mouth with his eyes wide open, Sonic let out a large sigh before he continued.

"Dude, look at yourself! You are stressing yourself out! And here I thought, I would never someone quiet and smooth as you to ramble like that," Sonic chuckled and released Shadow, "I know we have work to do man but geeze, I don't want your head to explode because of all the stress."

"... " Shadow blinked a couple of times and turned his face a little to the side in order to avoid Sonic's gaze.

"I noticed that ever since the whole Zonic's incident happened, you were really stressed and I mean really really stressed! I can see your quills all tensed up and believe me, I know what I'm talking about since you used to tense up like that during our battles in our rivalry days." The blue hero winked and tried to meet his emerald eyes with Shadow's.

Sonic gently raised his body low in order to pick up the brown bag that he dropped earlier and took out anther bread from it.

"I just want to say sorry for letting you take care of all the... I guess difficult part," said Sonic as he took a bite from the bread, "I mean you consoled Zhadow, allowed him to stay even though he was considered as an ex-zone cop, fought with upgraded clones, showed an awesome leadership in the zone cop facility there and not to mention you, I hate to say this but, rescued me from Mephiles-"

"Even though you kicked me countless of times," Shadow pointed out and Sonic scratched his back quill feeling a little guilty when he was in his darker form.

"Yeah, sorry about that man. But you did all that in less than 24 hours! you really do have the right to be called as an ultimate life form if you ask me."

"What's your point, Sonic?" asked Shadow even though he had a feeling why the blue hedgehog would be saying all this.

"I just think you deserve a short break that's all. This is our mission to save Zonic and not just yours, alright? Taking a short break along the way is not going to cost a lot, trust me," said Sonic took a second bite from the bread.

"..." Shadow remained silent but Sonic did bring up a lot of good points. He was really, stressed out. To be more specific, he was stressed out to the maximum level since he had to deal with so many things that happened after Zonic's death. Maybe Sonic was right. Maybe he did need to relax for a second and take a deep breath.

"And besides, stop frowning or your face is going to stay that way," Sonic gently tapped his finger onto Shadow's forehead, "I'm not going to let you handle all the situation by yourself just like before. I learned my lesson," Sonic rolled his eyes with smile.

"What is that lesson?" Shadow finally spoke and played along with Sonic.

"Never let Shadow do all the difficult tasks or he is going to ramble like a girl!" Sonic laughed as he placed one of his free hand onto his peach stomach.

"Hmph, very funny Sonic," Shadow unknowingly smiled and at that moment, it felt like there were no worries in his head. It was just him and Sonic the beautiful forest located in Camelot.

"Hey I made you smile. Score one for me, aw yeah!" Sonic stopped laughing and reached out the half eaten bread to Shadow, "You should seriously try this."

Shadow walked a little closer to Sonic and placed a small kiss on his boyfriend's lips before snatching the bread.

"I guess resting here for a few minutes isn't going to be too bad," said Shadow as he sat down bear the tree with the half eaten bread on his hand.

"And the weather here is so nice too. Hey look at those flowers, they look like something Tails told me about," said Sonic as he went to the bunch of bushes that had flowers in order to observe them.

Shadow decided to let Sonic have his own time having fun with... uh.. looking at flowers while he decided to munch on the bread. There was no way that the ultimate life form was going to tell Sonic that this was his first time eating a bread. While Shadow took a bite and started to ease his muscles, Sonic went closer to the strange plant and sniffed the flower a little. The blue hero was pretty amazed that it contained a fair amount of sweet scent and some dizziness? Sonic thought it was a bad sign to feel slightly woozy so he swiftly pulled himself away from the plant.

Sonic's vision started to become a little blurry and was surprised that he was not panicking at all. The drowsy feeling was rather soothing as all the worries seemed to be lifted out from his small body. Sonic took a deep breath and smelled the forest while walking to Shadow like a drunk hedgehog.

"Gyah… S-Shadow I feel a little dizzy," Sonic called out the black hedgehog who just finished eating the half of the bread.

"What are you…" Shadow's ruby eyes went wide open when he saw the strange state Sonic was in. It was as if the blue hero was possessed by something. His eyes were half lidded as if he was going to fall and sleep any moment. At the same time, Sonic was clearly having trouble balancing his own weight.

"Shadow- Arg… I'm falling backward…" Sonic smiled as his mind became cloudy and Shadow swiftly reached out and grabbed Sonic's peach colored arm to bring him forward.

"Please don't tell me you were stupid enough to each something in the wild," Shadow gritted his teeth and gently slapped Sonic on the face.

"I feel like I'm going to fly… like a peaceful feather in the sky Shadow," Sonic gave a relaxed smile before launching himself onto Shadow's chest, "For your record I did not… eat anything pal. I just… smelled that plant… and poof! I'm all wobbly, hehheh."

"You look like you're drunk," Shadow frowned a little and glanced at the plant that was located behind the blue hedgehog. As Shadow meticulously looked at the features of the tree, colors and shapes, he realized that it was no ordinary tree. The ultimate life form remember reading through some research paper in the Ark when he visited once in a while and there was a particular research that professor Gerald did on a plant called Lotus tree.

"Sonic you smelled the damn Lotus tree!" Shadow growled but Sonic didn't seem to care less, "The drowsy pleasure… if you don't snap out of it then you'll start to lose memories!"

"Shadow but this feels so peaceful and nice!" Sonic laughed again as he sat down on the grass. "Maybe I should take a nap and…. sleep like there's no tomorrow."

'His body is going to start to shut down if he's too relaxed' thought Shadow as he dug through his memory, 'I remember reading something about reversing the effect…. natural reflex… laughter… that's it!' Shadow snapped his finger.

"I'm going to sleep now.. nighty night buddy," Sonic grinned and felt his whole body turning weak in a bizarre and yet pleasant way. Just then, Shadow pushed Sonic and hoped that his plan would work.

Meanwhile, minutes after his king left the Camelot in order to retrieve the mystical item from another kingdom, Lancelot decided to have a relaxing walk along the forest side of Camelot. This was when the knight heard strange noises not too far away from where he stood. The knight tilted his head in confusion and decided to check out the source. The black hedgehog held tightly to his Sacred Sword Arondight for protection just in case there would be an enemy nearby. But when he discovered the source of noises, Lancelot was appalled at the scene.

"S-stop it! I'm serious!" Sonic tried to push Shadow off without actually hurting him. There was indeed mixture of laughter in his voice but it was too far for Lancelot to hear it with his ears.

"My Lord! He's in danger!" Lancelot muttered to himself as he quickly skated towards another black hedgehog who was sitting on top of his "king". As Lancelot got closer to the enemy, he realized that the black hedgehog looked too similar to himself when he was undressed from his armors.

"Right as if I'm going to listen to you," said Shadow as he rolled his eyes. Shadow thought the only way to reverse the effect of Lotus plant was to make your muscles tensed as much as possible. So, Shadow decided to tickle Sonic until he snapped out from the sleepy mode. Shadow had to admit, it was a little fun torturing his boyfriend like this.

The ultimate life form was too distracted with Sonic's laughter so he wasn't aware of Lancelot's sneak attack from the behind with a large sword.

"Sonic's eyes dilated when he saw Lancelot attacking Shadow with the sword but couldn't really say anything because of the drowsy feeling from the plant still inside his system.

Shadow immediately turned around and managed to catch Lancelot's Arondight sword both of his hands but at the same time, Lancelot made some damage to Shadow's upper arm as well. The ultimate life form winced at the pain he felt his arm oozing with warm blood seeping down onto the black fur.

"How dare you harm the King of Camelot!" Lancelot growled and Shadow raised his eye ridge in confusion.

"The who?" asked Shadow.

"Silence! Make your leave now and I may spare your life," Lancelot placed full strength into his sword. Shadow felt the sword's sharp edge sinking below his glove and eventually under his skin.

"L-Lancelot…?" Sonic carefully tried to remember the name when he first encountered the knight through his fuzzy head.

"Your Majesty!" Lancelot pulled away from the ultimate life form and jumped to support Sonic to stand up from the ground. "Are you well my king? Has our enemy harmed you in any possible ways?" But when the blue hedgehog didn't really say anything aside from looking so dazed, Lancelot became to worry if the impostor looking hedgehog drugged his king.

"Sonic, what is that guy talking about?!" Shadow turned to his boyfriend, wishing that Sonic would be back to normal right now.

"Lancelot, I think… you have a whole mix up going… on here!" Sonic shook his head violently as felt the effect of the Lotus plant slowly leaving his body.

Lancelot on the other hand thought it would be best to defeat his enemy before doing anything else.

'My lord is not looking well indeed. The enemy must have done something hinder his movement and combat skill in order to obtain upper advantage,' thought Lancelot as he jumped a little backward and landed in front of Sonic for protection. 'I must defend my king.'

"Lancelot! You… Shadow didn't do… anything wrong," Sonic closed his eyes tightly in frustration. 'This drowsy effect is going to be the death of me,' Sonic growled in stress.

"Before I take you for a duel do tell, how were you able to disguise yourself to look like me to deceive my king? Perchance tis cryptic sorcery or witchcraft?"

"That hedgehog is not your king," said Shadow as he observed his bloody hand, "For your record, he belongs to me." Shadow decided to throw that last sentence proudly for no particular reason. In truth, he just wanted to say that out loud. Lancelot on the other hand was pretty ticked off by his impostor's last comment.

"By my troth, once our battle ends you shall not set one foot in Camelot ever again!" yelled Lancelot. The knight gripped his trusty sword tightly in his hand and was about to move forward toward Shadow but Sonic grabbed his arm and pulled him back just in time.

"Dude stop it! I was feeling dizzy because of this weird plant stuff," Sonic reasoned and Shadow was glad that Sonic was feeling back to normal again.

"My King, prithee I bid you. Why are you protecting that adversary who tried to kill you?" Lancelot continued to have his helmet on so it was hard for Sonic to see his eyes.

"No, no! That's my friend, Lancelot," Sonic calmly explained, "What am I saying. Lancelot, I'm not your king! Remember, after I finished my job helping the Camelot, I left so thought I wasn't the king anymore."

"I… do not follow…. hold on," murmured the knight, "You're… the same one who used to give himself the title of Knave the hedgehog when we first encountered?"

"Yeah man, don't tell me there is another hedgehog here that looks like me?" Sonic laughed but little did he know there was another blue hedgehog who looked exactly like him known as King Arthur, also known as Lancelot's secret romantic partner.

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Wow I really really need to sleep or something T_T I didn't get a good sleeping pattern during the midterm week season T_T So I am sorry that I don't have a preview for the next chapter but this is what I plan to write!

**Next Chapter Ideas!**

*** Can Merlina revive Zonic?**

*** Sonic learns how to make a music box for Shadow from Lancelot?**

*** Wait.. Lancelot saw Shadow and Sonic doing...O_o?!**

*** King Sonic is kidnapped?!**

So many questions! Don't worry my ideas are not dead yet and they will never die as long as I have people reading and enjoying this story! I really love and thank each and every one of you! When I read the reviews it always motivates me to continue to write even though I am tired lol!

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**Anyways, I am sorry again that I would not be able to reply to reviewers T_T Sorry but my body is really tired after midterms and more tired after writing this story today... hehheh BUT I will reply to you guys in the next chapter!**

**p.s: I worked really hard to make Lancelot sound a little... knighty... looked through internet how to talk all medival XD**

**p.s.s: I will update my profile for all those new fanarts tomorrow after I sleep! Thank you again you guys make me want to throw Shadow and Sonic up in the air!**

**p.s.s.s: Yes I took a small idea from the mystical tree called Lotus but the how to cure the sleepy effect by ticking is... yup I made it up!**

******Thank you everyone and see you real~ soon with my next chapter!**  


**Hope this fluffy chapter cured you guys a little from the "Zonic's Death sad chapter" incident!**

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**And please do review! It is really hard for me to keep writing these days because now I'm getting ready to apply to medicine school. Wow so early and I'm not even 21 yet hahaha T_T But I want to keep writing as long as I have your support and those reviews are really my reminder why I am continuing the story. Thank you again! **

**Review~ review~ before clicking those back buttons hehheh XD simple words are always welcome as well 3**


	26. Sorry, I Can't Keep that Promise

**GYAHHH! **

**First of all I have a confession to make.**

**I really truly thought that in the previous chapter I wrote, "I would update a little after one month because of finals" BUT I realized _today_ that sentence was not written! I think it was somehow not saved properly and that's why it wasn't posted in my previous chapter.**

**I am so so so so so sorry I made you guys wait a lot without any predicted upload date T_T forgive me!**

**My finals were not too good because I was extremely sick during the final and most of my grades came out and I'm not that satisfied T_T Not to mention I'm applying for my Medicine School this summer so woot more work T_T Good news is I'm going to my friend's 21 birthday party this weekend so yay! :D**

Here are the promised thank you reviews! (When I'm using my phone it's easier for me to reply through here and not private message TT;)

Use CTRL+F to find your ID if you reviewed last chapter!

StarLightRaven: Haha I know three Shadows! Woot! It's fun writing them since they all have different personalities especially Lancelot :D Thank you so much for the review!

RAWN89: Haha thank you and yes I managed to de-stress with Shadow lol XP Funny because at first I was about to make Sonic eat the flower haha but then I'm like eh.. Sonic is not that stupid lol. Anyways, thank you for the review!

sexysonic: We all love when Shadow gets jealousy hehheh Sorry for the late update but I hope you will enjoy this chapter too.

XryugafangirlX: haha Shadow hates when Sonic makes him blush XD Thank you for the review

Mizune Sisters Conquers All: Awwww thank you so much for the review and yes all the four predictions for next chapters shall happen very very soon~

Rasgnarok: I'm so glad that I was able to make Lancelot sound so knighty because it was so hard! I was literally digging my weak English skills and searching through website haha XD And I am so sorry that I didn't post my update schedule on the last chapter. (I thought I did but I guess I managed to save it incorrectly. But I made sure I posted the update schedule this time!) Thank you for the review as always!

HikariNoTenshiJakii: Yup King Arthur is going to come out soon and is going to be revealed where he is. Don't want to reveal so much detail but let's just say he might need his knight's rescue lol XD Thank you so much for the review~

kesha379: Awww sorry for the long late and thank you for the review. I hope you will like this chapter as well!

Amy Rose 7-Eli la eriza: * #&(!)!7b24(&! Thank you so much for the review! I always love to hear from! hehhe and sorry for the extreme late update T_T LOL your fanart do always make me happy too XD

LiveOnShadow: Awwww thank you so much for the review! Yup now I feel rested but then I got a little upset when I saw one of my grade for my final T_T sad sad. Oh well~ Life must go on haha. Hope you will enjoy this chapter!

pokemonpuck: Woot thank you so much for the review and you did it in your IPOD woah~ I know last chapter was the cute flutter chapter haha. Holding hands behind Amy... me like that 3 Anyways I hope you will enjoy this chapter too!

canikostar99: Haha I know when Sonic sees Arthur he will be like "woah~WOAH!" lol. Oh yeah Shadow ate some icecream/Pocky stuff when Zonic was alive (sniff T_T) but yeah Shadow (in this story at least) did particularly try bread lol. Hmm.. taking about bread makes in hungry now hehheh Anyways thank you so much for your review as always I really respect that!

1vampireAlpha52: Gyah long time no see! Or talk lol Im so glad that you enjoyed the last chapter and sorry for the long wait update! And yeah it was fun writing Sonic acting all drunk hahahaha. And Yup the "M" scene should be happening very... very... soon! Maybe within 2 chapters?! Woah! WOAH!

ShadowsLoverForever: Aww thank you so much for the reivew and yeah it was fun writing Lancelot! He's so cute! Cute knight! hehheh. Anyways, I hope you will enjoy this chapter too since Sonic will be teasing Lancelot lol

Shadow-of-death060: thank you so much for the review! And yeah it was fun writing Shadow relaxing a little haha. Cute chapters are always fun to write. Anyways, thank you so much for the review!

EternalMaskRose8: Hello there! (epic wave lol) Haha yeah Sonic talking all informal and people thinking their king is weird lol XD Thank you so much for the review as always I really really really am thankful for that!

AnimalAmelia16: Hello thank you so much for the review! If you read this before bedtime then I hope you get to meet Sonic and Shadow in your dream hehheh XD Oh on deviantart! I shall find your wall! Hunt for your profile! Woah I sound like a creeper lol.

Anonymous: No you do not have to be sorry because compared to you, I was sooo late for this chapter! Ugh! Must hit myself for being super late! But thank you for your review as always because they really do motivate me to continue!

Chidori99: Hahaha Shadow loves to say "His Sonic" hehehh XD Thank you for the review and I hope you will like this chapter too!

Sherland: Hola gracias por la revisión. Estoy utilizando el traductor de google XD jaja Me alegro que le guste esta historia mucho y no te preocupes hay azada para Zonic! yay ~ Y si Amy necesita averiguar la relación entre Sonic y Shadow dundundun! Gracias por el comentario de nuevo!

Skylarthehedgie: heheh you're making me blush thank you so much and I'm glad that you are liking this story! Yup I ship all different versions of Sonic and Shadow! 3

puccachini: Thank you for the review XD Yeah Zonic's death was sad T_T (lol funny because I'm the one who technically killed him lol) but I hope last chapter was a little fluffy healing chapter! Hopefully this one will be good too!

sonadowislife: Sorry that this chapter was so late! And thank you for the previous review as well!

Rock D the hedgehog: Hello there~ Yup Yup I plan on finishing this story if it is the last thing I do! My update got a lot slower then last year because I'm getting close to graduation from university XD But thank you so much for reading the story so far!

anyale: Aww your review is just too much for me it's making me blush! I am just so happy to hear that you are enjoying this story! LOl if I owned Sonic and Shadow trust me I would have published this and made it free so I can spread sonadow ahhah XD Anyways Sonic is going to meet the king soon so don't worry! Anyways thank you so much for the review!

sonarhedgehog17: GYAH! Long time no talk! Sorry for the extreme late.. ish.. I can't believe I didn't upload for like... past a month right now! Anyways I hope you are doing well and don't worry I shall keep on writing this story! Yay Sonadow! I hope you will enjoy this chapter as well!

XhadzXerxes: Thank you for reading this story and reading it up to chapter 25~~! hehheh and yeah I really loved ShadowIsLoved's artwork as well and was surprised that ShadowIsLoved knew this story! I felt so honored T_T And thank you for complimenting on my character style as well! That's the one I worry the most since my English skill is not the best and it's tempting to write it in Asian mode lol! Anyways I hope you will like this chapter too!

YaoiTrouble1213: (#*^$( %)& &*^ &^#*& ^#*& ~! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR REVIEWS! And may I say I love your icon picture.. its.. its a blue dolphin! SO freaking cute! Your reviews on various chapters really helped me to motivate to write this chapter as well and I cannot thank you enough! I clicked on your profile and you have sonadow stories too! Must.. read...them..! You shall see me commenting very soon as well! XD These days I don't have time to search stories so I don't really know a lot of writers except for the old ones that I knew previously. I'm so glad that you reviewed so now I found another author to stalk story! WOOT! Thank you again~

Guest: Thank you to all the guest reviews! Really ever time when I feel a little tired writing (It's not that I don't have ideas because my head is still filled with ideas haha) your reviews help me to sit down, write and post onto this website hehhe XD I hope you guys will enjoy this chapter as much as I had fun writing it! :D

**STORY START NOW~! ENJOY!**

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"Ah… I seem to have acted before thinking through," Lancelot lowered his sword and gave a curious look to Sonic whom he thought was his king at first. "Knave the hedgehog, it was a goodly length in time since I met you."

"Hey, I told you that my real name was Sonic remember? Sorry I couldn't explain this whole situation earlier. I was feeling a little…well weird from that flower." Sonic pointed to the plant behind him. He was glad that the effect from the Lotus flower finally wore off.

"So just for your record, I didn't do anything harmful," Shadow gritted his teeth but he felt a little uncomfortable seeing Lancelot being physically a little close to his Sonic.

"What be your name?" Lancelot nonchalantly turned his head to Shadow.

"My name is Shadow and I believe I have the right to take what belongs to me," replied the black hedgehog as he reached out and grabbed Sonic's arm.

Lancelot felt a little strange seeing someone that looked exactly like his king getting handled by another hedgehog so roughly. At the same time, the knight felt a little embarrassed thinking that Shadow was his enemy who was trying to kill his king who turned out to be the blue hedgehog from another world. Lancelot felt his face heating up a little when he thought about what happened few seconds ago.

"Woah~ there Shadow," said Sonic when Shadow pulled him to his side but his pupils dilated when he spotted the blood on his peach arm. The source of the blood was from none other than Shadow.

"?! Shadow your arm!" Sonic shouted and touched the ultimate life form's upper arm where Lancelot's sword made an impact.

"Stop acting like you're surprised seeing me hurt," Shadow rolled his eyes and released Sonic from his grasp.

_'I know getting hurt is something that we go through but I feel like this is my fault,'_ Sonic thought to himself as he frowned a little.

"My sincere apologies Shadow," Lancelot quickly bowed, "Mayhap you and Sir Sonic should follow me back to the castle and I can get your wound treated."

"My body should heal soon so I don't need to take your offer," Shadow replied with a callous voice.

"Oh come on Shadow! We were on our way to go to the castle anyways. Stop being so moody and let's follow Lancelot." Sonic gently pulled onto Shadow's arm and this caused the ultimate life form to wince in pain slightly. "Uh-oh. Sorry man," Sonic weakly smiled.

"My blade is not like mundane swords you see anywhere else. Even a gentle touch can cause harmful damage," Lancelot explained.

"Lancelot is also pretty good with his sword stuff. I remember having such a hard time when I first fought this guy," Sonic laughed and patted Lancelot's back. The knight thought this behavior was strangely odd but didn't say anything.

"…" Shadow continued to watch those two and gave out a deep sigh. He then placed one of his hands to his upper arm and felt the blood soaking his white glove.

The ultimate life form didn't know why he was so pissed off at Lancelot. Well, it was more like he didn't like seeing Sonic interacting with another knight who looked exactly like him except he was in this medieval concept. Shadow clearly understood that Lancelot didn't mean to attack him in the first place but it really bothered him to see his Sonic having fun talking to Lancelot.

_'…. Is this what Sonic felt when I was with Zonic?'_ Shadow blinked a couple of times. _'Envy?'_

"Come on! We did plan to go to the castle and ask where Merlina was right?" asked Sonic and Shadow really couldn't deny his boyfriend's request especially with those huge emerald eyes wide open.

"Ha… fine," Shadow grumbled.

"I bid you Sir Sonic, wherefore do you need Merlina? Do you have a request for her?" Lancelot continued to speak only to Sonic and this ticked off Shadow slightly.

"Well… since she knows all those cool magic stuff… we were wondering if it's possible for Merlina to-" Sonic swallowed hard before finishing his last sentence, "to bring back someone from the dead?"

"Finding the lost soul and putting it back to the cold body?" asked Lancelot.

"Pretty much," Sonic bit his lips, "I know there are whole moral stuff and bunch of complications but Shadow and I want to see if it is possible for her to do it in the first place."

"I am not familiar with Merlina knowing those kinds of spells but it does not hurt to meet. Merlina is currently living in the castle serving our king."

"Cool for real? So we can just go to the castle and ask right?" Sonic jumped once in excitement but continued to feel the strange aura between Shadow and Lancelot. The blue hero didn't want any trouble between two black hedgehogs and really wanted them to just get along.

"Yes Sir Sonic," Lancelot answered.

"Just a question for you," Shadow gave a gentle hand gesture and this caused the blue blur to stare at the bloody arm again. "Why do you add the title Sir in front of his name but not mine?"

"Sir Sonic here once saved Camelot from the evil. You on the other hand I know not any accomplishments nor your status. Why should I give you the honor title like Sir Sonic?" Lancelot's voice was not filled with any cockiness but Shadow was able to sense that the knight was actually looking down on him in many levels. Shadow was not the only who caught this because Sonic also felt a small sweat drop when he listened to Lancelot's reasoning as well.

"What did you say?" Shadow hissed under his breath and Sonic's mind raced to find a solution to make these hedgehogs not get into another battle.

_'Shoot, I better step in.'_ Sonic gave himself a gentle face palm before stepping in between Shadow and Lancelot.

"Okay! Before we go to the castle I don't want any fights between you two just because you guys had a bad start." Sonic carefully observed and noticed that there was something about Shadow's face expression._ 'Eh…. Is Shadow jealous because I'm getting along with Lancelot?'_ Sonic blinked a couple of times before chuckling quietly to himself at Shadow's behavior.

"Lancelot, you can just call me Sonic, it's totally cool," Sonic reassured.

"But Sir Sonic-"

"I mean if my boyfriend is not going to have the title then I don't really want it either, hehheh," Sonic brushed his blue back quills with his hand shyly before swiftly glanced at the ultimate life form. Shadow was shocked that Sonic basically told their love relationship to Lancelot as his face blushed in bright shades in pink.

"Boyfriend…?" Lancelot tried to understand what Sonic said. "As in love affair?"

"Yup. You got it pal," Sonic winked and turned his attention to Shadow, "Now I don't want you do act all jealous when I talk to Lancelot, Shadow."

"…. Who said I was envious, hedgehog?" Shadow narrowed his eyes but deep inside, he was happy to hear what Sonic said to Lancelot._ 'I guess… I was acting a little foolish without any particular reason…'_ Shadow felt like an idiot for the first time.

"Right~ Shadow. I can see it written all over your face," smiled Sonic.

_'So Sir Sonic and Shadow are in an affair… just like me and….'_ Lancelot's thought trailed off.

"Is it weird?" Sonic tilted his head in curiosity to the knight who seemed to have a blank face expression.

Lancelot quickly brought himself to reality when Sonic continued to wave gloved hand in front of his eyes back and forth.

"No, not at all Sir Son- I mean… Sonic. I believe love has no boundaries. An Affair between two males is quite rare but nothing I am against about." Lancelot picked up his sword and pointed to the castle. "Shall we continue forward?"

"Why don't we all run there?" Shadow suggested which caused Lancelot to give him a concerned look.

"With your wound? Is that safe?" asked the knight as he raised his eye ridge skeptically.

"Don't underestimate me," Shadow smirked and Sonic shrugged his shoulder.

"That's just Shadow's way of saying don't worry about me and let's race!" Sonic rubbed his nose and looked forward to the direction that they should run to. "Lead the way, buddy!"

**(Castle)**

When three hedgehogs went inside the castle, Sonic couldn't keep his mouth closed while Shadow also had that amazed look in his ruby colored eyes. They expected the castle to be huge but the design of the interior was just amazing. The floor had a long brown carpet with a large dragon's picture engraved on it and near the brick walls, there were large metal bars that had fires which blew gently from the opened windows. There were so many doors that led to different chambers and Shadow thought it was interesting to see these doors painted in various types of colors. Sonic looked up to the ceiling and saw a picture of a blue hedgehog who wore a yellow crown and a red robe with a king's staff on his left hand.

"And you said there is no hedgehog who looks like you in this world," Shadow glared at his boyfriend and teased him.

"Well now we know that the king of Camelot is my identical twin." Sonic scratched his blue ear in response.

"Yes. Indeed our great king of Camelot resembles Sonic. This is the reason why I was confused in our first encounter."

"Sir Lancelot! I not know you arrived back to the castle so soon from your daily walk." A white bunny who wore a maiden outfit came out from the blue door. "K-King Arthur? My lord, you returned very soon!"

"Ah Elizabeth, could you fetch some medical supplies? We have the wounded here." Lancelot pointed at Shadow's bleeding arm which seemed to have stopped along the way. "This is not King Arthur. Do you perchance remember Knave the Hedgehog? "

"Yo~" Sonic raised his hand in greeting.

"O-oh my… the one who saved our Camelot? Indeed it is a honor to meet you again." The maiden was curious to see why Sonic came back to their world.

"The medical supplies?" Lancelot kindly reminded her.

"Yes Sir Lancelot."

"Is she your girl friend, Lancelot?" Sonic playfully teased the knight but he shook his head.

"She is one of king's assistant who is in charge of royal clothing and the king's daily schedule."

"Here you go my knight," she brought a brown basket full of strange herbs and bottles with bizarre colored fluid, "Would you like for me to handle the treatment process of the wounded?"

"Nay, it is good from here. You may leave and fulfill other duties," Lancelot received the basket. "Ah, where is Merlina at this time?"

"She just started her meditation and would be there until the supper schedule today."

"S-Supper?!" Sonic shouted really loud and his voice echoed all the way through the castle. "Please tell me supper time is going to come soon." Sonic tapped his red running shoes on to the floor, a habit he continued to keep when he grew impatient.

"The supper is scheduled when the sunlight reaches the main window," Lancelot pointed to the window frame that was located right behind the king's throne. "Indeed, it would take some time before Merlina is finished."

"Can't we just go and say excuse me and start asking?" Sonic sighed with a hint of frustration.

"We came here to ask an important request to Merlina and the least we could do is to show her respect," replied Shadow as he rolled his eyes. "I hope you weren't thinking of barging into her private room and asking if she can revive the dead."

"Well then don't think about it," Sonic shrugged his shoulder. "I guess we'll just be waiting until the sun goes down."

Shadow nodded in the obvious statement that Sonic made while Lancelot reached out for the brown basket and took out a small bottle which contained dark blue colored liquid. The knight signaled Shadow to sit down near him so he can start the swift treatment process in the arm. Shadow hated the feeling of dependency but he thought it would be best for his alternative form to take care of the treatment. It is supposed to benefit him anyways.

The ultimate life form sat down in one of the wooden chairs that were against the wall of the castle as Lancelot look out some liquid and applied it directly to the opened arm. The blue liquid soaked into Shadow's wound and started to emit a strange color because it was now mixed with blood.

"Eh…. It is supposed to look all that disgusting?" Sonic frowned and took a closer look at the arm. To the blue hedgehog, Shadow's arm now looked more injured than before.

"After a while, the wound shall close and there won't be any scars left." Lancelot closed the bottle and took out a white bandage that had different types of herbs attached in the inner side. Shadow was about to protest that he doesn't need it but decided to shut his mouth. He didn't want to start another pathetic argument with the knight.

"When can I take this off?" The ultimate life form asked as soon as Lancelot was finished.

"Around the schedule of supper, you may remove the bandages."

"Awesome. Now you look all better. See that wasn't too bad Shadow." Sonic poked at the black hedgehog's arm before turning back to Lancelot. "So since we're all waiting for Merlina and all, is it okay for me to look around this castle? I don't want to bore myself to death."

"You could possibly cause confusions to some of our knights and servants here," Lancelot explained but when Sonic gave that sadden look on his face with his blue ears folded downward, that same image reminded the knight when his king pretended to look all poor and innocent in order to get what he wanted. "I… assume it could be tolerated," said Lancelot. "If someone stops and address you as King Arthur, I bid you, state your title as Knave the Hedgehog to hinder any confusion."

"Sure, understood!" Sonic gave his good old thumbs up. "Hey Shadow, want to explore the castle with me?"

"You go ahead. I want to rest a bit and clear my head."

"Eh… sure, suite yourself." Sonic tried to hide the little disappointment but he thought Shadow might need his private time to relax. Before they came to Camelot, Shadow had to fight with Mephiles and mainly take care of Zonic's death situation when they came back to No Zone and not to mention persuaded other zone cops to make Zhadow stay with them. Maybe Shadow just needs a short break to ease his stress peacefully.

"The door to your right is the guest room. You may use it as your own."

Shadow nodded and when he was about to enter the room, he did feel a little bad to reject Sonic's offer of looking around the castle but he had something issues to think about by himself.

"Let me know when you're done looking around," Shadow carefully added before closing the door behind him.

The sound of the door echoed around the castle, Lancelot decided to break the silence between him and Sonic . "I am curious to see why your beau did not join you?"

"My what ?" There were times when Sonic wished knew he completely understood the language that Lancelot used.

"Shadow? The hedgehog whom you shall be betrothed to in later times?" Lancelot emphasized again. Sonic re-searched through his invisible dictionary and flushed a little when he realized what betrothed meant: a formal agreement to enter a marriage.

"He doesn't always have to stick around me." Sonic gave an awkward smile, it was Lancelot's turn to be confused.

"Stick? Why would you want glue yourself to Shadow?"

"What? Oh no like I meant, I don't always have to be with him," Sonic sighed and hoped that Lancelot understood his second sentence better.

"I understand." Lancelot thought about this morning when he wanted to join his king's mission to retrieve the valuable object in another kingdom but was depressed when King Arthur told him that he was okay on his own.

As Sonic looked around the castle a little more, he started to wonder where in the world would the King of Camelot be right now. He expected to see the king, who resembled himself exactly, sitting on the red throne that was located in the center of the castle. At the same time, the blue hedgehog wanted to know if this king had any similar personality with him as well.

"Where is your king by the way?" asked Sonic as he walked to one of the largest red door that was behind the throne when Lancelot wasn't looking.

"King Arthur left to fulfill a request. He should be coming back before the sun down and-" Lancelot looked at where Sonic was and found out that the blue blur was about to open the door which led to the king's private room. "Halt! You cannot open that!"

But the knight was too late as Sonic's curiosity already caused him to open the door. The knight ran to Sonic's side as the blue hedgehog entered the king's private chamber while blowing a whistle.

'_This must be the king's room,'_ Sonic looked around and noticed that there were many different types of paintings of the king. Interestingly enough, in every painting of King Arthur, Lancelot was there as well. There were many other knights in the Round Table so why Lancelot?

"You must make your leave out from his chamber," said Lancelot as he also entered the king's room, "This is a private chamber and you do not have the permission."

"Chill out man, I just want to see if your king has same taste in room design as I do," Sonic chuckled and started to dig through the king's personal properties.

"Sonic with all the respect, please make your leave now." Since Sonic reminded Lancelot his real king, it was hard for the knight to get angry at Sonic easily.

"Paper works, paper work and I thought digging through Zonic's stuff was boring," Sonic talked to himself when he spotted a small wooden box with a metal lever attached to the side. It wasn't one of those automatic music box where all you need to do is wind it up.

"Cool I haven't seen these music boxes in ages! Can I crank it to see how it sounds like?" Sonic asked as he flipped the music box over and saw that there were carved names which surprised Sonic a little.

_King Sonic and Lancelot_

"Wha-"

Lancelot quickly took the small wooden music box away from Sonic's hand. When the blue hedgehog gave a bewildered look on his face, Lancelot lowered his head apologetically.

"Forgive my rude behavior but this is personal…" Lancelot trailed off and couldn't properly face Sonic's emerald eyes.

"No you don't have to be sorry!" Sonic waved his hands in disagreement. "Um… correct me if I'm wrong but I thought your king's name Arthur? Why does it say King Sonic?"

"Yes our king's real name is Arthur but he also possesses sonic speed like yourself. When I called King Arthur King Sonic as a harmless banter, he seemed to have enjoyed that title so only I have the permission to call him like that."

'Huh so King Arthur's nickname is King Sonic, the irony.' Sonic thought to himself. _'Wait… if Lancelot is the only one who is allowed to call the king as King Sonic then.'_

"Hey Lancelot, did you make the music box?" Sonic asked as a grin formed in his lips. The blue blur started to figure out why where were so many paintings of Lancelot and the king together in the private chamber.

"I… Wherefore would you want to know?" Lancelot made a huge effort to not to stutter.

"Oh I just want to know your relationship with the king and all," Sonic walked around Lancelot and when he was behind the panicking knight, Sonic reached out and grabbed the music box again.

"…!" Lancelot was speechless when Sonic played around with the music box.

"Come on, even I'm not that clueless," Sonic softly laughed as he pointed to the carved name on the bottom of wooden music box, "You and the king have something something going on, am I right?"

"Sonic, I bid you please!" Lancelot tried to get the music box back but the blue hero easily dodged Lancelot's movement.

"Hey you're not saying no so I guess it's true," Sonic teased the knight and decided to return the music box. "Why didn't you say that you and the king had a relationship going on?"

"W-we do not have anything going on." Lancelot finally managed to stutter a little.

"Haha sure Lancelot," Sonic answered with sarcasm as he narrowed his eyes. "It's like me saying I don't have anything going on with Shadow."

"….. You.. are okay with this?" Lancelot's voice sounded a little serious and Sonic decided to stop laughing for a while.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you not believe that if a royal subject has an affair with his king then it is seen as a disdainful?" Lancelot carefully asked again now that his secret was out to Sonic and it was pretty obvious that he would not be able to undo this conflict.

"Hey you're the one that said there is no boundary when it comes to uh… affairs," Sonic tried to use some medieval term.

"Ha… how I wish things were that simple. If an affair between King Sonic and I were to be rumored around the Camelot, my majesty could lose his throne and this would be most painful for me to see and for his royal family history. "

"Woah, that's not good news," Sonic agreed.

"I thought about ending the affair because the risk is too great for my king but his confidence is endless and wants to take the jeopardy," Lancelot sighed in stress and placed the music box back to the table.

"Now I know his personality is like me," Sonic commented, "It's not that your king has a big confidence. He probably thinks keeping you by his side is worth the risk. So was the music box supposed to be like a birthday gift or something like that?"

"Nay, it is Camelot's tradition where if two names are carved in the hand crafted music box then they are forever bonded together," Lancelot explained.

"So you made this?" Sonic's emerald wide went wide open and when Lancelot nodded in response Sonic grinned again. "Dude that's so sweet! Could you… uh… tell me how to make one of these?" Sonic scratched his ear and Lancelot had a pretty good feeling why the blue hero would be making that request.

"Tis splendid. I have basic supplies needed in the basement of the castle and with my guidance, it should not take too long to make." Lancelot exited the room and waited for Sonic to follow him along.

"Hey, I am not a slow learner so I bet we can finish this a lot quicker," Sonic smiled and closed the door behind him.

While Sonic decided to learn how to make a decent mechanical music movement, Shadow was lying down on the wide bed thinking about all the things that happened in the past and problems he needed to deal with.

There were many things that happened and his personal conflict with Mephiles turned into a lot of other people's business. Deep inside, the ultimate life form felt extremely guilty to the point where it felt like he was also responsible for messed up relationship between Zonic and Zhadow.

_'Mephiles' main plan is to do get revenge on me,'_ Shadow carefully thought about the situation, _'So anything that Mephiles does is probably related to me.'_

Shadow closed his eyes and images of Zonic and Zhadow popped into his mind once again.

_'Is it my fault that Mephiles caused problems to those zone cops?'_ Shadow has been asking himself similar questions many times. Was it worth collecting chaos emeralds before Mephiles does or is it smarter to use chaos control to send him and Mephiles into another dimension where they can fight until there is only one survivor. Which would be the better and smarter choice?

And then there was a main question regarding Sonic. Was it smart for Shadow to have Sonic along his side?

When Zhadow revealed Mephiles' plan of taking Sonic's power through Dark Sonic, a slight concern increased in Shadow's heart. Scratch that, maybe an enormous concern. Shadow started to wonder if allowing Sonic to hang around with him was a good idea. The chance of Sonic meeting Mephiles might be lower if the blue hedgehog was away from him as much as possible since Mephiles' main target was Shadow himself.

'_Then it's settled.'_ Shadow clenched both of his hands into a fist when he made his final decision. _'Collecting seven emeralds before Mephiles is already long way gone since he has the upper hand… I should use two emeralds to chaos control both of us into an unknown dimensional world, make sure he can't escape and… I'll work my way from there.'_

The thought of secretly leaving Sonic hurt Shadow but he knew this would be the smartest thing to do. The black hedgehog ran though his black quills in frustration and decided to take a nap to refresh his mind.

**(Guest Room)**

"Knock Knock Shadow~" Sonic called out and opened the door to the guest chamber. "Sorry about not coming back to you so soon but I got something special for… uh… Shadow?"

Sonic kept the handmade music box behind him when he walked into the guest room.

"Are ya sleeping?" Sonic whispered as he went closer to the black hedgehog on the bed.

Shadow was lying on his side facing Sonic as his chest fur went up and down from breathing peacefully. Sonic was about to wake Shadow up but an interesting thought came in. He wanted to see Shadow's reaction when he surprised him with the music box while Sonic pretended to sleep. The blue hero gently slid himself onto the bed right next to Shadow and placed the music box over the black hedgehog's head.

"Oh man, Shadow is going to be so surprised once he sees this!" Sonic tried to keep himself quiet . When Sonic positioned the gift on top of, he softly blew a wind onto the black hedgehog's ear. When Shadow's ear started to twitch constantly because of the tickles, Sonic bit his tongue from laughing as he closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

"…? What the?" Shadow almost fell off from the bed when he saw Sonic "sleeping" right next to him. "When did you get in here?"

The black hedgehog used his finger to poke Sonic's cheek a couple of time and it took every little bit energy for the blue hero to not to laugh while pretending to sleep. When Shadow got off from the bed, he noticed that there was a small wooden box. He raised an eye ridge in confusion as Shadow picked up the small box and observed it by rotating it on different angles until he found something that was carved below the wooden box.

It was none other than his name and Sonic's name.

_'Did he make this?'_ Shadow couldn't help but to form a small smile on his lips. He was about to crank the handle to see what kind of musical movement it would play but was afraid that the song might stir Sonic from his "sleep".

The black hedgehog gripped onto the wooden gift as he sighed deeply. Sonic just had to make this gift for him when he thought baout leaving him. But at the same time, if his plan was to really leave Sonic and chase after Mephiles on his own, this would be the perfect chance to do it. He can leave the red chaos emerald he brought with him to Sonic so Sonic can use chaos control to return to safety. Shadow would search for another emerald hidden in this dimension on his own and when he does, he can pursue Mephiles from there.

**(Remember! you only need one chaos emerald to travel different dimension BUT you need two emeralds if two people want to travel. It was explained in early chapters~) **

"… This is for the best," Shadow murmured as he reached to his back quill and took out the red emerald he brought from No Zone.

Sonic bit his lips as his ears carefully paid attention to what Sonic was saying.

_'This is for the best?'_ Sonic thought to himself while his eyes were kept closed. _'What is he talking about?_'

Shadow placed the red emerald beside Sonic and petted the blue hedgehog gently on the forehead. Not wanting to wake the blue hedgehog and create another awkward situation, Shadow decided to quietly walked and exit the room.

_'W-what? Wait is he... is he leaving?'_ Sonic's heart raised all of the sudden to the point where he could hear his own heart beat.

When the ultimate life form was about to open the door and make a run- I mean make a skate for it, he heard a small cough behind him.

"And where do you think you're going?" Sonic tapped his foot on the floor as he threw the red emerald to the air and caught it with his right hand several times.

_'Damn…'_ Shadow cursed himself.

"Don't tell me you didn't like my gift and that's why you're going somewhere without telling me," Sonic forced out a laughter to brighten the mood.

"Weren't you sleeping?" asked Shadow.

"Yeah I was sleeping," Sonic made an air quotation mark before walking up to Shadow, "So where were you about to go leaving this chaos emerald behind?"

"I was leaving it to you," Shadow answered flatly.

Sonic was slightly caught off guard when he heard that sentence leaving Shadow's lips so easily. The urge to scream out to ask questions was almost at the top of Sonic's throat but he tried to calm down first.

"Why would you do that?" Sonic didn't really like where their conversation was going. "Please don't tell me you were planning to go somewhere without me."

"….."

"Shadow?" Sonic's voice raised a little and Shadow thought it would be just good to leave this castle before Sonic started to ask more questions. When Shadow turned the door handle, Sonic picked up the sound with his sensitive ears as he used his speed to race to the door and slammed it to prevent Shadow from opening it.

"Let me open the door," said Shadow.

"What's the deal man? Where are you trying to go without me?" Sonic placed his hand onto black hedgehog's shoulder. "Did I do something to make you upset or something?"

Shadow looked at the music box that he held so protectively on his left hand before turning around to face Sonic again.

"If you stay with me Mephiles could kill you like how he did to Zonic," said Shadow when he looked at Sonic straight in the eye.

"Well if we stay together and fight, he can't no-," Sonic shook his head, "he_ won't_ be able to kill us."

"That's not the point," Shadow snapped.

"Then what is the point?" Sonic frowned a little but he knew that yelling, especially at another hedgehog who is known to have a bad temper, would be a bad idea from the start.

"…I just…." The images of Zonic and Maria's deaths flashed into Shadow's mind before he spoke the next sentence. "Don't want to lose you."

"Shadow..." Sonic whispered and the black hedgehog did not hear this.

"You're the last person I want to lose now."

Sonic knew that Shadow was the type of hedgehog who had a very difficult time when it comes to describing well... emotions. The blue hero didn't blame him since that was how Shadow was raised and he didn't mind listening to Shadow's cold words once in a while because that was just his personality. But when Shadow had those rare moments where he actually uses words to tell Sonic how he feels, those particular words always amazed Sonic.

_'Heh.. Thanks Shadow,'_ thought Sonic.

After a few silence between the two hedgehogs, Sonic started laugh and this laughter became louder almost to the point where even Shadow thought Sonic became crazy or something. He didn't know what was supposed to be the funny part when he admitted the truth to the blue hero.

"Sorry but I forgot to catch the funny joke," Shadow hissed as he crossed his arm.

"Oh Shadow," Sonic took a deep breath so stop himself from laughing longer, "I can't believe you. So you thought if you ditched me and run off to fight Mephiles by youself, it would keep me safe?"

"…W-Wel…" This was first time when Shadow didn't really know how to answer that particular question.

"You're hilarious!" Sonic patted Shadow's back, "And you never thought that I would be coming after you? Like it or not, once you steal Sonic's heart, he's going to come after you one way or the other."

"I don't follow…" Shadow trailed off.

"It means, you can't run off and fight Mephiles on your own because I'm always going to be following you like. A. Hawk," Sonic grinned as he opened his arm and snuggled into Shadow. "So don't try to run away by yourself okay pal? Trust me, it's not going to do me any good that's for sure."

"You could be safer," Shadow sighed as Sonic continued to hug him.

"Uh... yeah, but I probably won't be stable mentally and maybe emotionally too," Sonic released Shadow and looked at him with concern, "Promise me?"

"Promise what?" Shadow pretended to act stupid even though he exactly knew what Sonic was referring to.

"Promise that you won't try to leave me to fight Mephiles on your own. I'm not going to forgive you for that," Sonic raised his index finger as if he was making an important statement.

"Hmph, I guess I should really think twice before secretly leaving you," answered Shadow and Sonic flashed his smile when he heard the answer he wanted.

"By the way, don't you think this music box is cool? I made it myself with.. well.. Lancelot helping me ninety percent of the time but I did the name caring! How cool is that? Don't you want to see how the music sounds like?"

"Sonic, Shadow" Lancelot quickly opened the door and this surprised both couples in the guest room, "My apologies for interrupting but Merlina seemed to have completed her mediation a little earlier than expected so you may enter her room."

"Sweet! Let's go and take care of that first Shadow," Sonic stretched his leg muscles and yelled before rushing out, "Last one to the Merlina's room is the real faker~"

The blue blur than dashed off to the direction that Lancelot pointed to.

Shadow grinned at Sonic's childish behavior but his smile faded away when he traced the carved names behind the custom made music box that Sonic made for him.

"Sorry but I can't keep that promise,Sonic."

Shadow carefully left the music box on the bed before leaving the guest room and went to join Sonic, Lancelot and Merlina.

* * *

**DUNDUNDUN! Is Shadow going to leave Sonic?!**

**Very short preview to the next chapter since I didn't start writing yet!**

**Next Chapter: Zonic's Faith**

"Yes it would be possible to bring Zonic back but..." Merlina trailed off and she tried to avoid Sonic's eyes.

"But what?" Sonic urged the magician to continue, "Is it just too difficult? Is it morally wrong? What is it?"

"Sonic calm down," Shadow placed his hand over Sonic's shoulder.

"When I tried to contact your friend Zonic's soul, he kept running away," said Merlina as she touched her purple staff.

"What do you mean he was running away?" This time it was Shadow's turn to ask while he gripped onto Sonic's hand warmly for comfort.

"It seems that Zonic doesn't want to return or rather... he is scared to come back," replied Merlina and Sonic was completely confused than ever.

"What? Why?" The blue hedgehog stood up from the chair, "Doesn't Zonic regret getting killed? Doesn't he... doesn't he miss Zhadow?"

* * *

**Well there is the short preview! Thank you very much and please please review! I'm working on my Medicine School Application and so...much... stress T_T I can't even enjoy summer properly. **

**P.S: Someone asked me to emerald count like who has what (ex: How many chaos emerald does Mephiles have?) And honestly.. I kinda forgot too hehhe. I know Mephiles has the most! lol but I will go back to my chapters, count them and also write a short summary in the next chapter for those who kinda forgot or were a little lost ;)**

******Anyways please review and I will try to update within two~three weeks!**


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